Owl City Animations
School Project 2022
These three animations serve as title cards to selected songs from the Owl City album “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” Each of the three were designed in a whimsical, surrealist aesthetic, reflective of Owl City’s music style.
“Deer in the Headlights” is a playful exploration of what it's like to be infatuated and how such a state can alter a person’s worldview, even putting them in danger of getting hurt. I illustrated this feeling by racing the viewer down a retro-wave road until they crash into the sun, as if being knocked head-over-heels for someone, transporting them into a colorful and fantastical world.
The animation for “Angels” leans very dream-like with its flowing grainy gradients and bright shifting colors. These few seconds of video serve as a narrative summary for the entire piece, illustrating lyrics such as “I believe there are beautiful things seen by the astronauts,” or “In the dust on my cellar staircase, pair of footprints followed me.”
Of the three, “Galaxies” is the most grounded in reality, using real HD footage of the cosmos. The animation comfortably rides the line between awe for the cosmos and reverence for the Challenger explosion.
