A live interactive invitation ceremony for a wedding, to simulate a tradition of relative families writing the kankotri invite card through a digital medium. Starting with an animated short video of concept story-line, followed by a set of 50 personalized videos for guests, all playing in a seamless manner.
This is the map of the final execution of this event. The presentation clicker glows when the button is pressed by a family member, triggering next video. There were two audio inputs used, one from the video itself as sound effects and another being an ambient soundtrack playing separately with it. As a result, audio never breaks the ambience even if the video itself is paused on the last frame each time.
Concept
The concept at play here is that the tree symbolizes the beginning of a new relationship. Reddish hue in the leaves indicates the essence of life, as it turns to become precious and eternal, depicted here by the color gold.
I decided for a hand drawn storybook style for the overall look, using some ornamental and flourishing elements to compliment the occasion.
The Flourish
There is an upward panning motion in this shot, which slowly reveals the elements in this scene. Additionally, there is an overlay of welcoming text with similar style animation.
The hierarchy of assets is complex, but mainly there are 3 aspects, the background, the tree, and the overlay. The background reveals itself with the use of an Alpha Matte, while the other two are using a Stroke Effect to achieve this. The tree itself has multiple layers that use the same technique with a delay.
The Journey
A Hummingbird carries the news to spread it across the world from a freshly bloomed flower on the tree.
The bird is a rig system, composed of 3D layers, made in After Effects itself. The wings are operating on a wiggle expression after defining the origin of each layer. The main body is a puppet mesh with pins that also operate on a wiggle expression. Once created, the rig system was animated as needed. The cards then fall out of the bags. The story is continued in the following section.
The Invitation
Cards are displayed on the screen with details of the upcoming events, the left side is for the groom's guests and the right side is for the bride's guests. For common schedules, a single card is shown. This was done using a plug-in for 3D in After Effects.
The last frame of this video there is a close-up of the logo, this serves as a transition for the next video in queue when the first family is called on stage. Please note the video is sped up by 4x for display purpose.
Interactive Ceremony (the Groom's side)
Once the first family is called on stage, the next video is triggered by them. Following the story, the card falls onto a table where the invitee's name is magically written, after an auspiscious tradition is performed.
The bird here is a different rig, created the same way as the other. For the feather I set the origin to it's end, and added a wiggle expression in its orientation, then drew a path to simulate the writing. The video pauses at a frame where the bird appears at rest to serve for the next transition.
Interactive Ceremony (the Bride's side)
Upon announced, the second family approaches the stage to trigger the next video. Only this time, there are a few tweaks and additions to keep the seamlessness intact.
Then a second variation for Groom's card, without the card falling and the bird's entry, is then played for the next family. Finally, this brings us back to bride's video. Now a complete loop is formed. Production concludes by changing the text and tweaking feather path for each guest.