We've had some great opportunities to develop interactive and video-based assets for FIS. During the acquisition of Metavante, we produced a very cool animatic we call "Transformation" - all handled with two-dimensional artwork that is magically "transformed" into living, breathing elements. You can check that one out here.

But I digress. I actually wanted to focus on a recent piece for FIS that was featured at a recent corporate meeting. The subject of the video was the credit industry, and mapping out the current state of its relevance. Charles Rosenberger - our interactive art director and resident animation guru - created a really dynamic video, and I wanted to share some of our process in making this happen.

Let's start with the basics: tight budget and tight timeframe. Not uncommon in this day and age, but for more interactive and animated pieces, it presents a number of challenges. Because Charles and other members of our team are adept at jumping on the proverbial "moving train," we approached the project in the most efficient way possible. We knew going into the program that we weren't going to be able to shoot any new content or muster the resources to go on location or tether lots of clips together. So we had to get really creative.

After developing the script, I worked with Charles and the team to craft some thematic concepts for telling the story. Charles had a fantastic idea of using line art to illustrate some of the applications that credit influences; here, you can see some of the original storyboard drafts that he developed from scratch.

Turns out we were on target, so we were able to accelerate the development timeline and get into production quickly. This was critical, given that we were looking at a week to get the principle animation completed. As the story unfolded, the signature line on the back of an illustrated credit card "draws" the many different things that consumers depend on their cards for: the line moves from left to right, creating the identifiable shapes of a cruise ship, an airplane window, groceries... the list grows on. The line continues to frame statistical metrics for industry use, all underscoring the pervasiveness and continued reliance on credit vehicles in our global economy. This supported one of the key themes at the meeting, and set a positive tone for the FIS solutions designed to serve this financial market segment.

What I love about this piece is it's simplicity. It's a two-dimensional motif, but multi-dimensional in its execution. And it's imaginative: instead of tethering a series of stock images together, we created a unique story with a distinct, effervescent feeling permeating throughout.

Not to mention, we met the budget and timing requirements. No matter how powerful the final piece is, it's nothing if it can't be leveraged for the event in question.

Enough said - you can check out the full video piece here.