The Rough Cut
with Coat of Arms
Roles: design, animation, compositing.
First when Coat of Arms approached me to help out developing this project, after I read the script I truly connected with the message because that is how I feel when I’m in the process of creative work. The feeling of struggle, doubting myself and don’t know what direction to go and which way can lead to a satisfied feeling when the work finishes. That's only people who have been in that place understand it. When I worked on this project I didn’t feel like working for a client. I feel like working on my personal project and I wanted to push the bar as high as I could.
More than that, this project collaborates with other artists around the globe and the benefit of working with others to be able to learn and take a look at other project files to see what are behind the magic that they have done. Thankfully Coat of Arms provided the project file and break down case study in detail to benefit our community so other can learn from the project as well.
Here is what Coat of Arm say about the project:
“The rough cut is where the magic happens.” We all experience struggles with being creative, believing in ourselves, and finding the best language to share our ideas. There’s an infinite battle between the concept in our minds and what gets put to paper. This short is all about the creative process, and how vulnerable we are as artists.
Because this is a universal experience, we connected with friends from around the world and enlisted their help in telling this story. Oh, and we also used their true voices in the voiceover. Here’s to the artists!
Here’s to the creative process. Here’s to the rough cut!
Visit coatofarmspost.com/bts to get project files and to read our case study on Behance!
Storyboard and Design
Break down
Credits
Creative by Coat of Arms
Creative Direction by Clara Lehmann & Jonathan Lacocque
Design Direction by Ryan Butterworth
Written by Clara Lehmann
Edited by Jonathan Lacocque
Sound Design & Mix by Sarah Krohn
Title Card Design by Dennis Hoogstad & Ryan Butterworth
00:00 – 00:14
1. Bubbling Spheres
Design & Animation by Ryan Butterworth
“Every story begins a little big ugly.” – Clara Lehmann
“It bubbles near the surface.” – Ryan Butterworth
“Masked by our fears,” – Nuria Boj
“blocked by our insecurities,“ – Lucy Lacocque
“it’s awkward.” – Sarah Krohn
“This shit is hard.” – Sarah Krohn & Ryan Butterworth
00:24 – 00:32
2. Exercise & Ice Cream
Illustration by Nuria Boj
Animation by Arm Sattavorn, Nuria Boj, & Romain Loubersanes
“So you put on some tunes.” – Amy Butterworth
“Get some exercise.” – Arm Sattavorn
“Or stress eat some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, and…” – Mantas Gr
“search for that spark of inspiration.” – Jonathan Lacocque
00:32 – 00:35
3. Sailer & Siren
Design & Illustration by Aaron Ray
Animation by Aaron Ray, Mantas Gr, & Ryan Butterworth
“A good story looks easy.” – Aaron Ray
“It makes sense.” – Jodi Krangle
“It flows effortlessly.” – Sarah Krohn
“But don’t be fooled by the siren’s song.” – Lucy Lacocque
00:35 – 00:48
5. Smoothing the rock
Design by Ricardo Nilsson
Animation by Arm Sattavorn & Ricardo Nilsson
“The rough edges are smoothed,” – Grace Lawson
“the inconsistencies are removed. The defects are revised.” – Ricardo Nilsson
“[Ack!]” – Clara Lehmann
00:55 – 01:03
7. Child’s wooden blocks
Design & Animation by Steve Savalle
“Repeat it.” – Lola Butterworth
“And do that 10 more, 25, 100 more times.” – Susanna Basone
01:08 – 01:21
9. Rough wood = magic
Illustration & Animation by Mantas Gr
“Truth is. The rough cut is where the magic happens.” – Patrick (PK) Dow
“It’s that moment where you teeter between genius and total crap.” -Pablo Lozano
“Failure or grandeur.” – Nidia Dias
“And ain’t that beautiful?” – Sophia Lacocque
00:14 – 00:24
4. Wood block construction
Design & Animation by Arm Sattavorn
“Stories are shaped.” – Ryan Butterworth
“Designed.” – Arm Sattavorn
“And wielded into something presentable.” – Friedrich Detering
00:48 – 00:55
6. Rolling ball
Design by Ana Hill
Animation by Arm Sattavorn & Susanna Basone
“What am I talking about?” – Lola Butterworth
“This isn’t nearly good enough.” – Charlie Butterworth
[beat]
“Scrap it.” – Oliver Butterworth
“Tack it.” – Steve Savalle
01:03 – 01:08
8. Curves & Cmd+Z
Illustration by Aaron Ray
Animation by Arm Sattavorn
“Uncomfortable yet?” – Aaron Ray
“It’s exhilarating right?” – Clara Lehmann
01:21 – 01:48
10. Coat of Arms
Design & Animation by Ryan Butterworth
“We won’t give up, if you won’t.” – Lucy Lacocque
All outtakes from the Butterworth and Lacocque families.