Double Rainbow Music Video | Molly Conrad
Illustration, 2D-Animation, Storyboarding, Video Creation
*After Effects Animation
This was one of those initially intriguing projects that turns into something creative and meaningful, blurring the lines between promotional marketing and art.
In early 2024, Buffalo, NY-based singer/songwriter and musician Molly Conrad reached out to me about a music video for one of her singles she had been working on at the time, Double Rainbow. The song’s subject matter is super personal to her, and she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do for the music video but thought that something animated could work really well. In the following months, It turned into a unique project for me where I got to storyboard, illustrate, and animate the entire video. Double Rainbow became one of those unicorn projects where you really get to test those bounds of art and creativity with your client, and the result was something really special that we ended up being very happy with.
You can view the video below, as well as read on to learn more about the creative process that went into the production of this video.
Storyboard
Double Rainbow is a song about the emotional toll past trauma—and the depression and anxiety it causes—can take on a relationship. When coming up with initial concepts, I found myself drawn to portraying this relationship through anthropomorphic little rainbows. It’s not gendered, there’s no race or specific ethnicity, it’s just one individual concerned about the other one that they love. It stood out to me as a visual that can be relatable to a wide variety of people, just like the song is.
When drafting the storyboard (see below) I went with the idea of these rainbows moving throughout the clouds, with one feeling down while the other rainbow, their partner, is concerned for them. They move through different scenes, obstacles, and threats, eventually soaring through the final bridge of the song. It maybe ends a bit ambiguously but there’s hope in the feeling there as well.
I thought the imagery these rainbows could be interacting with could include a lot of objects “formed” by clouds. Visual representations of the lyrics that can morph and change since they’re not real objects, they’re made up of clouds (an elephant, a ferris wheel, stars, and more). Conceptually, I think it ties all the imagery together and creates this little sky world these rainbows exist in.
Style Frames
Molly’s musical style has traditional singer/songwriter aspects, upbeat pop songs, slower songs, stripped down songs and the like. But the running theme throughout her catalog is that there’s always this childlike wonder and earnestness to a lot of her music that has become her signature. She doesn’t shy away from how she feels in her music, and I think that’s really the draw to her fans. I thought bright colors, a curvy and inviting illustration style, simplified elements, and some gradients and texture could work together to visually represent that childlike wonder.
Production
I illustrated every piece of imagery you see in the video in Adobe Illustrator, and completely animated it using Adobe After Effects. I animated the project at 12 fps to give it a little more of a handmade feel to tie into the simplified illustration style. Molly was interested in displaying the lyrics to the song in the actual video, so I found a simple, slightly curvy typeface and placed the lyrics strategically throughout the video. I wanted them to play well within the animation while not being a distraction to the imagery.
Conclusion
All in all, this project was such a joy to work on, and I loved being able to help a local indie artist visually represent her music. If animation is something you’re curious about for a project you might have in the works, don’t hesitate to contact me today! I’d love to chat about your ideas and create something with you.