olivia_leahFollowing in the path of several capstone students before her, Olivia Lee chose to create a music video for her final student project. She was the director/producer for the music video “I’m On Your Side” by Matt Hires, a singer-songwriter from Tampa, Florida. Olivia partnered with Leah Kurth, who was the concept art/animation lead for the project. The video was recently released on Matt Hires’ youtube channel, take a look.

Olivia and Leah began working with Matt in the fall of 2014. After the video concept was green-lighted, they began production. This was a project that required a variety of skills in both A/V production and animation. In addition to the studio shoot with Matt Hires, Olivia directed several off-campus shoots that drive the heartwarming story of the video. Throughout the piece the live-action footage is integrated with digital animation sequences. Completing the animation on time required the support of an underclassmen rotoscope team including Joseph Kinstler, Cora Mumme, Kirsten Elyea, Katie Selhoff, and Brent Heflin.

Recruiting underclassmen animators and crew members is a common tactic for seniors who tackle ambitious capstone projects. Both Olivia and Leah were supporting animators for a previous student-made music video, and that experience helped with the production of their own capstone.
Congratulations on the release, Olivia and Leah! Check out more work from these recent grads on their websites: