Context

Those last months, we experienced a slow-down phase regarding works volume with Pommeclic.

This gave us the time to think about updating our legacy homepage, untouched since 2020.

At first, I started to brainstorm, then wireframed some sections using Figma.

Quickly thought, the idea on releasing a showreel made its way, as our videos production got noticeable bigger over time.

This is what I call thinking showreel first 😼.

Process

1. Web design

After having setting up a pretty elegant homepage layout, I coded the design with Next.js + Framer Motion for the animations.

2. Work selection

Then, we listed various works released during the last 18 months, trying to get a wide range of type.

3. Storyboard

A showreel is built using existing pieces of works, so the process is different than designing a whole concept from scratch.

The focus here is dealing with rythm, transitions and some showcase principles.

The only whole creative part here was the intro.

I storyboarded it using the desktop Storyboarder app and designed the first work placeholder using some usual pages placeholder.

4. Music first

I quickly realized it would be much more interesting to use the background music as a whole animation driver instead of just adding it on top at the end.

We decided ourself for an original chill/hip-hop piece, with a high emphase on timed beats.

This sound driver helped me define several key principles I would be using across the reel:

• stop-motion synchronisations
• hard cuts on main phase changes
• match cuts to help reading between very different work arrangements
• quick paced, general observed while benchmarking previously

5. Production

I didn't produce any storyboard regarding the work showcases, but completely let the music drive my design choices during the execution.

So, I used the listed works as a reference, and I moved forward building the reel.

I rendered the result at times to validate the reel part already done, as it is set in stone gradually.

My current After Effects stack (2023)

As of today, I'm solely working from a laptop station and intent to stick with it as I'm still nomad.

Over time, I improved my workspace and share below what I value the most in terms of tools and plugins.

• Flow: to apply common easing presets
• KBar: to pin shortcuts in a convenient icons sidebar
• labels: to apply pretty custom palette colors to timeline layers
• void: to generate null/solid/variant without solid dependencies
• overlord: to import Illustrator shapes as After Effects shapes
• Ray Dynamic Color: to set color as global variables
• Anchor points gravity: to change the anchor point setup

Techniques I now use often

• Linear expressions: to drive multiple animations with mapped values on a single frame interpolation
• Prerenderings proxies: to speed up preview renders and final render for still comps requiering heavy calculations

Result

And here is the 2023 Pommeclic showreel.