While words allow a message to flow and sink in, we often use video for backup. Well-designed footage, graphics and animations can help or hinder content that should leap from a screen. Which is why we’re so lucky to have Rodrigo Luques on the team — a one-man dynamo for giving static elements an adrenaline shot.
He’s used to moving quickly, too. As our Motion Designer & Editor, Rodrigo never sits still on a project for long. He’s worked across the bulk of Brafton’s clientele, treating landing pages, product demos, explainer series and whatever else requires a sharp eye and editing skills. “I’m always excited by the possibility of discovering new things in every video I create,” he tells us. “It’s never stuck on a single subject.”
For a change, though, we’d like to make Rodrigo the subject. Learn what it’s like coming into Brafton from your own business and feeling passion prod you again, asking why it’s been locked up for so long.
Finding A Voice in the Media Landscape
When we sit down together, it’s easy to believe that Rodrigo’s first words were into a microphone. Before he began his career in motion design, he worked as an announcer on FM radio for a couple of years in Brazil, his home country. If you’re backpacking or driving through, you might still catch those golden tones on the airwaves — he still freelances! But it’s always been a side gig in his mind. Cameras came calling, winking seductively from every store worth a long lunch hour. It led him to become an entrepreneur.
“Before I started at Brafton, I had my own video production business here in Brazil, working with animation and live capture for big companies. But the thing is, when you run a business by doing something you love, it winds up being the last thing you really want to do! So, in 2020, I decided to change my life and return to what I really adore, which is definitely not taking on responsibility for tax and business development, but designing, editing and animating.”
At first, Rodrigo crafted a lot of flat animations — largely 2D effects. But in the two-years-plus since he joined the video team, he’s experimented and diversified. He can now count 3D, 8-bit and particle animation in some fantastic wins for our customers. Pixar might be scouting him, actually. Hands off!
Initially, we involved Rodrigo through the whole creative process from scripting to sign off. Now, however, he’s mainly focused on design and animation, where he’s most at home. We’ll always include him in project conversations, but we also want to let that visionary magic run wild. Like it’s meant to. We’d feel bad holding a motion designer back.
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An Ear for Video, too
If you ask Rodrigo what his biggest inspirations are, he’ll be quick to point to 100 bands — so, how long have you got? “I love to sing,” he tells us. “I have an indie rock band called Stump, and we play a show around once a month.”
With vinyl on the brain as well, everything becomes a motion picture soundtrack. He’s certain that “music is the heart of any video,” which can set its own rhythm for cuts, shots and transitions. Rodrigo probably imagines dozens of needle drops for nothing in particular, even when he’s making cereal or buying ear plugs. When you look for iconic moments in the small crevices of the day, you’re bound to bring an interesting perspective to animated videos, too.
In keeping with that adventurous spirit, he’s a big video game fan. “The Witcher” and “Red Dead Redemption” are among his favorites, with their near-limitless potential for random interactions. Do people think he’s also a memorable character? “It’s hard to work with video and not be remembered as more than the guy who makes videos. After all, you’re probably on camera somewhere, even fumbling with the lens cap.”
And what about his standout projects — the type that inspires a few love ballads in the dead of night? One of them is Unacast, a foot traffic analysis tool. Rodrigo’s animation welcomes you into their world with a golden line crossing honeycomb-shaped segments of a business district. We zoom down onto a building, which stands in vivid, blue-and-orange 3D. In-app screenshots complement the simulation, showing how anyone can predict traffic and visitor behavior with Unacast.
Another highlight made it to our YouTube channel. Rodrigo created a visual infographic for Integrate, who wanted to de-jargon Buyer Demand Marketing (BDM) for a wide business audience. Thanks to our man’s light touch on the editing console, they have a rapid-fire explainer that makes everything understandable and engaging.
If you’d like to flex your visual verve with Rodrigo and the rest of our video experts, see if we’re hiring soon! Or ask about your own video designs that will pop more than that corn you lost beneath the sofa.
