Case Study
Carbon
- Design, VFX & Color Carbon
- Creative Director Mat Stevens
- CG & On Set Supervisor Isaac Irvin
- Executive Producer Matt McManus
- Head of Production Tina Starkweather
- Senior Producer Nathan Lueptow
- Associate Producer Nick Rosenberg
- Executive Producer, Color Natalie Westerfield
- Colorist Bree Brackett
- Color Assistant Zoe Rain Lambert
- 2D Lead Artist, Flame Michael Sarabia
- 2D Lead Artist, Nuke Tommy Smith
- Lead Animator Alex Rumsa
- Asset Manager Will Moody
- 2D Artist Hannah Barnes
- 2D Artist Andrew Siner
- 2D Artist Blake Druery
- 2D Artist Andres Arias Gomez
- 2D Artist Ryan Raith
- 2D Artist Tingting Li
- 2D Artist Jonah Hall
- CG Artist Will Moody
- CG Artist Alex Rumsa
- CG Artist Mike Penny
- CG Artist Logan Pittman
- CG Artist Mark Wurts
- CG Artist Jean Delaunay
- CG Artist Jessie Amadio
- CG Artist Chris Lesage
- CG Artist Josh Delaney
- Designer Ben Girdwood
- Designer Carlos Nieto
- Designer Yongho Kim
- FX Ryan Hussain
- FX Brandon McFarland
- FX Jonah Hall
- Storyboard Artist Brian Wilcox
- Animator Josh Delaney
External
- Directed, conceived, and costume designed by Melanie Martinez
- Client Atlantic Records
- Executive Producer Wes Teshome
- Marketing Michelle Bodnar
- Video Operations Lily Thrall
- Production Service Company Dojohouse
- Producer Abi Perl
- Executive Producer Danny Pollack
- Production Manager Autumn Maschi
- Production Coordinator Chris San Andres
- 1st Assistant Director Jasmine Thomas
- Director of Photography Nyk Allen
- Production Designer Wesley Goodrich
- Edit Company Digital Sword
- Editor Aris Cline
- Stunt Coordinator Charles Gresham
- Costume Design Melanie Martinez
- Key Special Makeup Effects Malina Stearns
- Key Stylist Brett Alan Nelson
- Key Hair William Scott Blair
- Key Makeup Laurel Charleston
- Costume Construction Muto Little
- Costume Construction Marco Marco
- Choreographer Nina McNeely
- Choreographer Assistant Jamie Donovan & Justin Conte
- Dancers Andrea Bass, Billy Mustapha, Kat Cheng, Jose Gabriel Baez, Brooke Shepherd
- Production Design Wesley Goodrich
- Art Direction Leona Johnson
- Leadman Brian Andrew Marquez, Andrew Bond
- Leadman Assistant B Armstrong
- Leadman Assistant Makeup Carter McNeill
- Prop Master Cleo Camp
- Prop Assistant Allison Jensen
- Carpenter Alexander Abraham David, Hunter Kist
- Carpenter Assistant Satchel McCarthy, Davis McDonald
- Set Dresser Ryan Brennan, Hannah Roy, Nico Geyer
- Mushroom Fabricator Margot Rada
- Ribcage Fabricator Robert Yancy
- Floral Design Brittany Asch
We partnered with the (multi-platinum 💅) artist Melanie Martinez to bring ‘DEATH’ to life. Yes, you read that right. Death is one of our favorite things to bring to life at Carbon. As well as ideas, dreams, contradictions, and the four-day work week (still working on this one).
Directed, conceived, and costume designed by Martinez herself, ‘DEATH’ is the first stop on her new Portals album. Melanie is back from the dead, and alter ego Cry Baby has taken on a new other-worldly form. We’ve always known animation is fun. Turns out, re-animation is too!
We were hugely excited when we saw Melanie’s director treatment: a mystical musical fairytale world with muted pastel colors throughout. Transforming an artist’s vision into reality is fun to jump into at the best of times. Creating visuals with a singer-songwriter known for concept albums and otherworldly characters opens up a whole playground for your imagination to run wild in, and run it did.
Our immediate reaction was, ‘The combination of ethereal creatures, skulls, and mushrooms (oh my) within these mysterious, dark, organic environments and Melanie’s signature symbolism will make for an incredible story and visuals. We want IN.'(Keep scrolling to decide if we called it right!)
Carbon creative director Mat Stevens and team dove into story, look dev, and environment designs with Melanie to capture the afterlife world of her vision. We even got to play around in Unreal Engine for the previz ahead of shoot supervision (you’re welcome, Mat’s imagination). Huge thank you to Melanie for trusting us to bring this vision to (the after) life.
Currently at 15 Million views and counting on YouTube: R.I.P Cry Baby, your new form has been born!
