"Glory Of Love" by Otis Redding

March 23, 2020 Madden Meiners

One of my favorite artists is Otis Redding, and part of the gift to my girlfriend for our two-year anniversary was my animated rendition of the late-great singing his song, "Glory Of Love".

After watching many of his live performances and studying his movements, I did my best to re-create them within Illustrator and animate the layers through After Effects. Of course, it would have amazing to hear and see Otis Redding live in-person during his time, but his music and lyrics still live-on almost everyday in our house on vinyl and on Spotify. So, here's to 2 years with the one I love, and the memory of someone who knew love best.

Demo Reel

April 30, 2014 Madden Meiners

A collection of taste treats from my work the past few years, including the short documentary "Cat Show", ScreamCreature's music video for "Bonfire" and some other of my short films and animations.

Music by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. "Husbands - Interlude" & "Morning Thought"

"Teaming" production journal

January 20, 2014 Madden Meiners

Animated High-Fives and Teamwork

High-fives and fist-bumps have always been a great celebratory expression of teamwork within sports, so why not also in the healthcare setting?

The objective of my latest animation was to highlight the importance of teamwork within the aging and disabled healthcare community. Partnered with the Long-Term Care Educational Foundation, my idea was to feature a short series of high-fives and fist-bumps (aka "daps") being exchanged among members of a medical and social service team, all celebrating a successful doctors appointment with their patient- Gramma Lois.

Gramma's Care Team (left-right) - nurse, physicians assistant, doctor, physical therapist, social worker

When looking for high-five and fist-bump inspiration, I used the "This is Sports Center" commercial where Robinson Cano walks around the ESPN office, high-fiving staff members the same way he does his Yankee teammates.

For some reason germs seem to spread around the Bristol campus faster than other offices.

What I enjoyed about this were the intricacies of the high-fives and how well they were executed. Each exchange, different than the other, was done with such confidence they gave the impression of a well-run team working together. The familiarity between Cano and his co-workers was what I wanted to convey among the medical team and Lois in my animation.

While animating and illustrating, another commercial that caught my attention was the WatchESPN "Clutch" campaign from 72andSunny. The idea was two guys high-fiving and celebrating how "clutch" it was to be able to watch college hoops anytime via their WatchESPN app. As simple as it is, it's one of my favorite commercials outside ESPN's "This Is Sportscenter" campaign.

Steve and Vic discover the clutchest man-made invention ever: WatchESPN. It's the app and website that let's fans watch live ESPN anytime, anywhere. So Clutch. WatchESPN. The Clutch Way to Watch Download the App or Visit WatchESPN.com

The style in which the commercial's high-fives and fist-bumps were animated resembled what I had in mind for the Teaming animation- short, simple movements with the detail being in the routine. Pictured below are members of the medical and social service team exchanging a fist-bump in the hallway, and Gramma Lois checking-out with the receptionist.

Gramma Lois and the Receptionist celebrating a good doctors appointment

Physical Therapist and Doctor locking-it-up

It was important that the routines be detailed enough where there was some variety in the hand-shakes and daps. With eight characters there was a lot to cover, but that made room for more to choose from. Below are some early sketches/storyboards where you can see some of the early ideas coming together- leg daps did not make the cut, unfortunately.

Storyboard sketch - detail on the action

Storyboard sketch - detail page-turn motion

Layered wireframe image of Reception desk — Layered wireframe image of Reception desk

Whether it's sports, health care or any other industry, high-fives and fist-bumps will always been viewed as a celebratory gesture. It is in the details of the exchange where you notice the essence of teamwork. With each unique routine comes a pride in something practiced and perfected over time.

The next time you watch a baseball or basketball game, keep an eye-out for the high-fives and fist-bumps exchanged among teammates and coaches. You may notice more teamwork going-on behind the action than you think.

The Relaunch

January 17, 2014 Madden Meiners

A couple goals that I have for this year are to write more, and shoot more often with my Canon camera when taking photos.

Although these goals are more of an ongoing effort rather than something achieved, they help me to become a better filmmaker in the process. The past year I have worked to rebrand my work, and redesign my website with the intention of keeping it updated more frequently with blog entries, and projects that I'm working on and am involved with.

Lately, most of the blog entries have been sunrise photos- which is part of another on-going project, but the blog will also feature production journals with behind-the-scenes, and making-of featurettes from new projects that give a better view into the creative process.

My hope is it makes the work more interesting, and becomes a platform to grow and improve upon. With that said, here is a look at some of my projects from the past year that I will recap in upcoming entries on the blog.

Stay tuned.