“The Software Supply Chain Song” is a 2D hand-drawn style animated video that emphasizes the importance of securing the software supply chain to protect against potential threats. The song highlights various stages of the software development lifecycle, from coding to production, and underscores the need for vigilance and best practices at each step. It also stresses the collaborative effort required across the industry to ensure the integrity and security of software components. The animation style is a fun and familiar 70s hand-drawn design that anthropomorphizes software, bringing everything on screen to life in an engaging and playful manner. The catchy tune, composed and performed by Google’s very own Forrest Brazeal, aims to raise awareness and educate listeners on the critical aspects of software supply chain security.
This video was created for Google Cloud, in collaboration with the incredibly talented Forrest Brazeal, who wrote and performed the song and provided initial concept art. It was a pleasure to work with a client who placed so much trust in the creative process, making the collaboration both enjoyable and inspiring
One of the primary challenges we faced was determining the appropriate level of animation fidelity within the constraints of the project budget and timeline. Our goal was to evoke the feel of a classic 70’s cartoon, but we lacked the resources for a fully traditional 2D animated video. During the pre-production stage, we presented various levels of animation fidelity for actions, idling, and dialogue phonemes to the client. Ultimately, we devised a hybrid approach that combined rigged puppet animation with traditional animation. Characters were rigged in After Effects and utilized keyframes for broad motions, while moments of traditional frame-by-frame animation were employed for impact. To achieve a cohesive look, we applied a turbulent displacement effect to create a living-line effect, seamlessly blending the two styles. This solution allowed us to capture the essence of a classic cartoon while adhering to budget and timeline constraints
Another challenge we faced was visually representing concepts like ‘good dependencies’ and ‘bad dependencies’ in our cartoon world. We decided to anthropomorphize the dependencies as shapes, using green for ‘good’ and red for ‘bad’. Midway through production, we received feedback to add specific logos to the good dependencies. To address this, we re-designed the characters to ‘come to life’ by initially displaying the static logos on the character’s blank face and then animating the characters’ eyes and mouths appearing over the logos. This approach ensured the logos were visible long enough to be read by the viewer while adhering to the character art style. I also had a ton of fun designing bad dependencies as fake knock-off versions of the good brands!
This project was a dream come true, combining my love for classic 2D animation with an amazing client. A fun easter egg: I make a cameo in the final scene, along with other members of the creative and Google teams, each voicing our own characters for the last chorus. It was truly a collaborative and rewarding experience!
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