Post-production Supervisor & Animation

From 2018 - 2020, I worked with the Microsoft Brand team to elevate and experiment with alternative ways of presenting Microsoft branding in videos. Below you will find examples of the explorations that I pioneered with my motion graphics team at Microsoft.

Microsoft

Common Intro

When I started at Microsoft, we used these intros and outros for everything. Over time I was getting requests for variations to these graphics to brand a Microsoft video in different ways. In some cases, we would skip the standard text intro and dive right into a customer story. In this case, utilizing our basic introduction was not appropriate. 

Manipulated Logo Animation

One of the first areas where we started thinking outside the box was around different ways of animating the Microsoft logo on and off. When I first started working on these tests, I was explicitly working with the Microsoft 365 team. These are some of the variations that we played around with. 

Zoom Transitions & 3D Objects

Another alternative to utilizing our standard three-color wipe was to use a zoom transition and then blur the footage on the zoom's fastest part. The effect gives the sense of racking focus as we transition from the Microsoft logo to the actual video footage. Another element that we began experimenting with was using 3D objects that would be used at the beginning of the video. This was a departure from the standard black and white screen we usually would use at the beginning of our videos.

Updated Color Wipe

As was mentioned earlier, we used the three-color wipe in almost all of our videos. We wanted to try different variations to this transition, so we played around with the idea of utilizing a mock-3D look that we could quickly achieve in After Effects.

Rotoscoping

Another thought outside the box was to utilize the talent we had filmed for various videos to wipe on and off the Microsoft logo. This was an enjoyable concept that we had used for other projects.

Text Animations

While working with my team of motion designers at Microsoft, I would consistently provide them with a direction regarding the best practice for animating videos to fit the Microsoft Brand. This is an example of techniques I would share with my team regarding the best animating text method for sizzle and social videos.

Animation - Thomas Nichols
Post-production Supervisor & Animation - Patrick Flaherty