Scholar Re-Enters "Made on iPad" Territory in a New Music Video for Zedd, Maren Morris, and Beauz
“Make You Say” Zedd, Maren Morris, BEAUZ 🎶
Having been deep in “Made On iPad” territory in 2021 with Olivia Rodrigo’s Brutal, Scholar was raring to go when Apple reached out for a brand-new music video - this time with Zedd, Maren Morris & Beauz. They had a new assignment, this time using the Flipclip app to create dynamic, surrealist, emotive animations on top of a live-action video directed by Colin Read. From collaborating on-set to creating inventive concepts, style frames, & full-sequence animation, they were delighted every step of the way to bring this wild thing to life.
Scholar's team of talented cel animators drew frame-by-frame over three and a half minutes of footage to capture Maren’s emotional journey throughout the piece, building the energy and emotion to a crescendo in the third act of fully-cel-animated, explosively fantastical motion.
Design & Animation: Scholar
Creative Director: Will Johnson
Art Director: Danni Fisher-Shin
Lead: Irma Hasanic
Chapter Leads: Madison Ellis, Zach Herdman, Amy Wallace
“This project was an exciting challenge in terms of workflow, timeline, and creative conceptual thinking. Our goal was to capture Maren’s emotional journey from grief, to anger, to peace with only our animated additions, carrying the viewer through each identical loop of footage with a new evolution of metaphorical visuals. Through countless rounds of conceptualizing, visualizing, and honing in on the most effective emotive concepts, we brought Maren’s journey to life in a vibrant swirl of visual metaphor.”
“It was an absolute dream when Zedd asked us to design the cover art to accompany the release. In the video, Maren goes through 3 stages of dealing with a breakup - grief, anger, and peace - and each of these stages has its own theme - water, fire, and flowers. In the cover art, we represented each stage through Maren's head and how she eventually rises from a place of sorrow to inner peace.”