Bible Basics
Educational
Role: Designer & Animator | Crafted 4 fully custom animated explainer videos for kids
About
Northview Church presents an annual, original series called "Bible Basics," designed to teach young children how to navigate and read the Bible. In 2024, the NV Kids Department unveiled a concept featuring two characters trapped in the Bible Museum in Washington D.C. This concept imagined the characters as real-life individuals who, while being pursued by a night guard in the museum, are transported into the Bible and become animated figures. There, they encounter renowned Biblical figures and learn about significant topics. The series was set to be released over four weeks, consisting of four individual videos.
Armed with this concept, I collaborated with Northview's Creative Team to review initial designs and strategize pivotal moments for the characters' transition into the Bible. The project extended over three months and required more than 220 labor hours to complete.
Storyboarding
Whenever I'm approached to do a project of this magnitude, it's imperative to think "10 plays down the field", rather whatever creative decision is made at the beginning will affect the final outcome. Unlike shooting physical video, animation can't be changed on a dime so the ideation process was crucial in knowing how this project will "look" and "feel".
The first thing I did was gather popular references that young kids today are exposed too when it comes to cartoon animation. Out of the handful of options, the Creative team at NV decided on the direction of using the PBS Kids Show Wild Kratts as the prime inspiration for this project. Thus began reading the scripts and mapping out the structure in how to champion the animation.
In all four scripts, multiple characters from the Bible were referenced, some in multiple videos. Instead of doing a full body character, I wanted to only show the characters face to maximize my time. Thus the "coin" idea was created. This idea snowballed into a unique way in retelling the classic stories from the Bible in where I landed on a construction paper cut out design for those stories.
Design
Diving into Adobe Illustrator, I started with the design of the characters' faces. Establishing a cohesive color palette and style was crucial. Planning to animate these characters in Adobe Character Animator, I drew on my previous experience to structure the designs for integration into my workflow. As all the male characters had beards, it was important for the mouth movement to synchronize with the facial hair. I crafted each mouth "pose" with a custom path that mirrored the movement, enhancing the realism. The extra effort required for this detail paid off in the final product.
After the facial designs were approved, I moved on to the body designs and transformed the Hosts, Alyssa and Cael, into their animated versions. Knowing the scene blocking in advance, I aimed to provide our two Hosts with ample movement. Since they shared the screen, it was important for them to be able to look at each other during their dialogue or even when only one spoke. Therefore, I gave them the capability for a quarter head turn to both the right and left. I reserved this feature exclusively for Moses and Paul during their instructional segments. To conserve time, I decided not to extend this process to the remaining four characters. After completing the full face and body designs for each character, I proceeded to Adobe Character Animator to start the rigging process.
Attached below are screenshots of Alyssa's character in Illustrator and Character Animator, respectively.
Animation
The success of this project hinged on the characters' performances. Integrating the voice actors' recordings with their on-screen presence was a complex task. Additionally, I envisioned the timing of the characters' interactions, such as when they would make eye contact or look away, and their positioning once I merged their final animations in After Effects. Seeing all the characters come to life on screen was truly rewarding.
After completing the characters, the next hurdle was the educational segments, which required a consistent style. I aimed to incorporate the Bible theme extensively, using a mix of paper textures, bold typefaces, and a palette of browns and golds to emphasize this motif. For the animations, I employed a wiggle effect and toggle hold keyframes on the anchor points of the text and other crucial elements to evoke the feel of an old film reel.
It was crucial to match the style of the children's bible they would be using to facilitate their navigation through the pages. The NV Kids Team indicated that the NIrV Adventure Bible would be the version in use. By selecting similar colors and styles from this bible, I ensured that the page numbers corresponded precisely with the referenced scripture verses. The objective was to eliminate any confusion from the child's viewpoint between what is displayed on screen and what is in their hands. This attention to detail might be missed by many but is significant to some.
The videos below highlight the animation segments that I contributed to this project. For those interested in viewing the complete episodes, they are available on the Northview Church's website here.
Week One
Synopsis: In their first adventure inside the Bible, our protagonists, Alyssa and Cael, find themselves trapped in the Bible Museum in Washington D.C. It is here they encounter two of the Bible's numerous authors, Moses and Paul, who each present arguments for the superiority of their respective Testaments, Old versus New.
Week Two
Synopsis: Alyssa and Cael meet Joshua, who assists them in navigating the passages of the Bible by teaching them to correctly read the Table of Contents, as well as how to interpret the Chapter and Verse numbers within the scriptures.
Week Three
Synopsis: Alyssa and Cael, upon reaching the shoreline, encounter Jonah and James. From these eminent biblical figures, they understand that reading God's Word entails not only comprehension but also the commitment to follow and act upon its teachings.
Week Four
Synopsis: In their concluding lesson, Alyssa and Cael encounter King David himself inside a temple. The esteemed King shares a personal story of his battle with the formidable Goliath, demonstrating how memorizing God's Word can steer our journey.
Once all the animations were finalized in After Effects, I exported the video and synchronized the voiceovers in Premiere. This proved to be advantageous, as it allowed for easy corrections; if any part of the animation was not quite right or needed re-rendering for any reason, I simply had to re-render that specific section and insert it at the correct timecode in Premiere. This method has streamlined my workflow over the years, making the process smooth and efficient.
The images below showcase my set up in After Effects and then in Premiere, both a part of Adobe's Creative Cloud.
