Explainer video for Sprout Social, business tools for the social web.

Client: Sprout Social
Illustrator: Brad Chmielewski
Animator: Brad Chmielewski
Audio: Maeve Price

I just finished a new 30 second spot at Daily Planet for the Chicago Sky. To create the watercolor effects we we used photos, mattes, and tons masks to bring it all to life.

Client: Chicago Sky
Designers / Animators: Brad Chmielewski & Vanida Vae
2D Artists: Jon Adler, Jess Donofrio, Scott Pellman, Katie Weber, Emily Stroble, Shawn Sahara & Drew Kordik

This past weekend was the Wicker Park street festival in Chicago. The festival took place on Milwaukee Ave between Ashland and Damen. Lately there has been a ton of great music festivals in Chicago with Pitchfork last weekend, Wicker Park Festival and also Lollapalooza coming up soon. The Wicker Park festival has something for everyone, DJs, Hip Hop, Indie, Rock and a little funk. And it seemed like a lot of people came out because the street was pretty busy. I was really just there to check out New York hip hop artist Mickey Factz. To be honest Mickey Factz killed it, don’t think I can put it any other way. The sound was great and the energy was perfect. If you’re a fan of The Cool Kids, Wale or Kid Cudi then Mickey Factz is straight up your alley. He combines some great electronic dance beats with excellent lyrical flow. I took a bunch of photos from the show that you can check out on my photoblog, you might even spot a photo of me and Factz. I also managed to take a couple videos with the Flip HD as well, which I tossed up on youtube.

This past weekend I was in Union Park for the Pitchfork Music Festival Saturday and Sunday. This was my third time going to Pitchfork, I skipped last year but figured I would give it another shot this year. All the previous times going I had a really good time and saw a lot of good bands and I don’t think this year was any different. The weather this year was hands down the best thing that could of happened. In years past it was around 100 degrees and incredibly humid. All you wanted to do in years past is sit down, drink water and try not to move. But this year it was partly cloudy and rather cool. Perfect weather to grab a beer and watch some bands.

Speaking of the beer, the two options were Goose Island 312 or Goose Island IPA and if beer wan’t your thing, once again there was Sparks. I really thought they stopped making that stuff. Anyway I was happy to see the IPA and not something like Honkers of Summertime. If you watch the Hop Cast you know I’m a fan of the IPAs so besides some water that was all I was drinking. Food was better this year then in years past, and if you were a vegetarian or vegan then you were in luck because there might of been more meatless options then meat this year. But I did skip places like Chicago Diner because I’m just not a fan, the only thing I have ever liked from them are the milk shakes. Also skipped Star of Siam, no reason to waste calories on mediocre Thai food. The best thing I ate all weekend at the festival was the čevapčiči. Whatever food you might of been in the mood for, there was likely a food stand.

The music overall at the festival had way too much bass and the vocals were way too low. Unless you were ten feet from the stage all you could really hear was muffled audio and a vibrating bass. But I guess this is almost a complaint with any festival, you can’t get the audio right for everyone. I moved around a lot, trying to see as much as I could. Saturday I saw, Final Fantasy, Ponytail, Doom, Matt & Kim, Black Lips and The National. Ponytail and Matt & Kim were my favorite of the day. They both put a ton of energy into their performance and just looked like they were really excited to be there. I was looking forward to seeing Doom but he was somewhat of a let down, he just didn’t sound that great and the performance was lacking. On Sunday I tried to get to the park in time to see Frightened Rabbit but having drunk a little too much the night before I was moving slow that morning. Still I was able to see some good bands again on Sunday. Pharoahe Monch, The Thermals, DJ/Rupture, M83, Vivian Girls, Mew, The Very Best, and The Flaming Lips. I skipped out early on the The Flaming lips since I had seen them before and it was just insanely packed. Pharoahe Monch and Mew were the stand outs for me on Sunday. Pharoahe Monch put on an outstanding performance. I was up pretty close and was able to get some really good photos too. Both Mew and Pharoahe Monch had their vocals turned up which really helped make the sound a lot better.

Besides the music and food I spent a good amount of time checking out all the screen printings. Some of my favorite screen printers were there like Jay Ryan and Crosshair. I wouldn’t of minded seeing Scott Marvel of teesty selling some of his stuff… maybe next time. There were a lot of prints I would have liked to get but I did ended up picking up just one from Clinton Reno. It features a bunch of owls in a tree with a televisions inside the tree.

A solid festival and a good time. You can tell that pitchfork has gone pretty mainstream since the crowd is a lot more diverse, especially in age. You have the young kids that know all the bands and the other folks who just knew The Flaming Lips but still came out for the whole day. Will I go next year? I guess I’d have to see the lineup before I could make the call, but I was happy that I was able to make it out for this one.

Just finished a new 30 second spot at Daily Planet. The Daily Planet team used only photos to create this high energy spot for the Chicago Sky. Check out the spot in the motion section.