Soon after All Those Left Behind wrapped, I received an email from a Mass-based musician named Nico Rivers. He had seen a short I made in a local festival and wanted me to direct the video for his latest single, Edge of A Knife. This time, I negotiated a higher wage for myself, and a slightly longer production time, and soon, Nico and I were off to the races.

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Nico wanted a retro look similar to 90’s Nickelodeon, so I kept that in mind when listening to the song. Initially, I wanted to have a dog and cat whose friendship is marred by prejudices about hanging with the rival species. Nico suggested a story about acrobats, which though conversation, evolved into escape artists, led by a chimp and a platypus, a tribute to the mismatched animal protagonists of many 90’s shows. Since this was a narrative, I spent much longer than usual on the animatic, and it ended up being revised a number of times. Then, I headed into designing characters and backgrounds, and from there into animation and compositing. Some of my production materials can be seen in the gallery below.

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Edge of A Knife ultimately became a showcase for my evolving craft and a lesson in improving my workflow. There’s a number of moments that I think, technically, are some of the finest I’ve crafted to date, and I’m proud of my work regarding the video’s look and feel. I’m grateful for the experience, and would love to work with Nico again in the future.