MUSIC VIDEO
KEY ART
SOCIAL CONTENT
MARKETING MATERIAL
CONCEPT
NARRATIVE
ART DIRECTION
DESIGN
ANIMATION
AUDIO
UNIVERSAL MUSIC
Frank Zappa
Valley Girl
MUSIC
Designing a music video is always a challenge. Not only because of our great passion for storytelling, but also because we want the individuality of the artist to be reflected in each work. From the moment we set out to make the video for Valley Girl, we wanted to highlight key elements in the song, both celebrating and satirizing the ‘80s
Script
Moon Zappa’s hilarious monologues and use of Valley Girl slang became the initial structure for our script, influencing the characters as well as the actions and locations for each segment of the song.
We chose to shine the spotlight on Moon’s now iconic phrases, utilizing the colorful typography and style of the ‘80s–the exaggeration of the era itself, is its own character in this piece.
Press & Social
Our final video was chosen as Cartoon Brew’s “The Pick of the Day”, and was also reviewed by many other animation portals.
“The finished song features a chorus sung by Frank, with Moon speaking several verses in an over-the-top valley girl accent, spitting all the most iconic phrases of the day. “Barf out!” “Gag me with a spoon,” and “I am sure…” are all delivered in a performance that quickly became iconic.
And now, thanks to Fantoons and Zappa Records, the legendary song finally has a worthy video”.
Characters
Backgrounds
For the general aesthetic and color palette of the video, we wanted to capture the surrealism and trademark characteristics of Zappa’s albums, all through the lens of the vibrant colors of the ‘80s.
We also designed patterns where solid colors work against moving grids, creating interesting contrast while lampooning the distinctive art of the ‘80s, such as the Max Headroom program.
Animation
In terms of motion, we used both traditional 2D animation and ‘cut-out’ animation. For the Valley Girl character, we decided to go with a digital plug-in called Ebsync.
Using Ebsync, we first recorded footage of our Valley Girl model acting out the movement and speech of each scene.
Taking the recording, our animators then illustrated in the style, the keyframes of the character.
Next, our compositor using Ebsync, took the elements and made a render where the plug-in generated the intermediate frames, or ‘in-betweens’, from one drawing to another.
Finally, the video returned to our animators to first, fix any frames where needed, color, and lastly, allowing us to have the glitching effect.
