YouTube Rewind 2015

Another year, another YouTube Rewind. 2015 was our most ambitious yet, adding motion capture to our tool belt, in addition to the usual motion graphics and compositing required for the project.

We were tasked with crafting a visual language for the act of ‘rewinding’, physically moving back through moments in the video. Another key effect was a reference to the viral video “Love Has No Labels,” featuring an x-ray screen. To achieve the skeletons on the x-ray screens, we digitally captured the motion of a performance artist to recreate the dance moves of various YouTube personalities.

This video garnered over 140 million views, and always gets a nice boost with each successive year’s YouTube Rewind.

CREDITS
Produced by Portal A
Director: Kai Hasson
Executive Producers: Nate Houghteling, Zach Blume, Kai Hasson
Director of Photography: Alex Jacobs
Lead Editor: Arturo Morales
DJ/Music Producer: The Hood Internet
Featuring an Original Remix by Avicii
Visual Effects by Steven Hudson, David Hudson, David Zimmermann, Gabe Conroy
MoCap Cleanup, Animation & Compositing: Kial Natale
MoCap Performance Artist: Adara Toop
Roto & Rig Removal: Ablaze VFX