the brief
I will focus on two sub-reels from the brand set and walk through how they were made.
Melbourne Theatre Thursdays
Melbourne Theatre Company introduced a monthly pre-show event for encouraging engagement with the theatre space. It featured live music, food, and drinks. The video showed the vibe, it just needed supers to add messaging. In order to encourage engagement, the video had to give a sense of FOMO to viewers. The footage was captured at the first event.
Eliza
Melbourne Theatre Company's season 2026 featured Eliza, a play about the birth of AI. It's partly a psychological thriller. The desired art direction of the campaign trailer was to explore discomfort and intrusiveness of the play, as well as recreate the static campaign artwork (a collage of abstracted parts of a face).
constraints
Melbourne Theatre Thursdays
The aim of Theatre Thursdays is to attract younger demographics as they tend to have the least engagement with theatre, but it is of course open to all ages. The video was for social media and ads, so its key target demographic were people aged between 25-35.
Eliza
The show appeals to those who are interested in the development of AI, people who like the psychological thriller / drama genre, and it could appeal to both older generations and younger generations given the impact of AI on job roles and future generations.
process
Melbourne Theatre Thursdays
In keeping with the event's sub brand and vibe of the video, while also considering the younger demographic on social media, I decided to give the supers a sketchy feel. I added distortion to create slightly wavy edges – reminiscent of cartoon styles where lines wiggle – and draw out words. In terms of execution, animating writing out each letter would have taken too many frames and been too casual. So, I aimed to give a writing effect in a much shorter, punchier time frame. Additionally, I timed the supers to align with certain parts of the video, to create a sense of cohesion and ease of comprehension for a viewer. It is a very quick video that has to grab attention and retain it, while also encouraging attendance at an event by giving a feeling of FOMO, so that was particularly important.
Eliza
To decide on the right direction for the distortion animation (as the dissection animation was a recreation of the static image) I worked with the videographer. The videographer mainly wanted to time glitches with the camera flashes. Together, we decided to amplify the slow pan-in to create a greater sense of uneasiness. After our brainstorming I went away and researched some visual effects and tested my favourites on the footage. After a bit of refining, we decided on the final art direction – a motion blur that also feels techy and glitchy. I jumped between certain frames to make the glitches more intense, added some quick zooms, and timed the effects with the actor's motion (e.g. running a hand through their hair). I left the colour grading to the videographer for the Season video, however completed colour grading for my own highlight reel.
This effect had to be done very quickly, with the turnaround being 1-2 weeks around my usual work. Sudden changes and budget limits presented last-minute challenges around season launch.
outcome
Melbourne Theatre Thursdays
Overall, I was able to get all the supers on the video without it clashing with the footage or being too quick to read. The video feels exciting and interesting, without giving a sense of overwhelm or motion sickness. The ads received healthy engagement and clickthroughs. Since the first event, attendance has increased steadily and more people are engaging with the theatre space pre-show than before.
Eliza
I believe the video conveys the play's theme of unease well. The glitches are a bit creepy, the abstraction of the face is unsettling, and overall it feels like an inevitable conclusion. Since creating this animation, it has been very versatile and useful, defining the show's motion identity beyond the campaign trailer.
