Quartz launched a paywalled series called Because China in 2019. It takes a deeper look at how small changes in this superpower have large effects worldwide. My team travels around the world to find stories about how things like technology, manufacturing, and global tourism are changing.

We have renewed the series for 2 more seasons so far, covering everything from the Hong Kong Protests, to COVID-19, to international espionage via academia.

ANIMATION/FOOTAGE

I served as both art director and animator and worked closely with our video editor and shooters to create a distinct look.

With my animation I wanted to have a very deliberate color palette that uses only white and grey backgrounds but packs an almost neon punch. It’s both restrained and exuberant and manages to be fun without taking away from the geopolitical subject matter.

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With footage, I wanted the video to feel both modern and distinct, so we used a custom LUT that tints all of our footage slightly blue, and use glitch effects and analog TV static as transitions

INSPIRATION

I took a lot of inspiration from sneaker ads. There seems to be a retro-futurism trend happening where brands mix old technology things like film strips and static with thoroughly modern quick cuts and bold type.