SafeBus - Introducing SafeBus

  • Steven Emerson
SafeBus engage with schools and school districts throughout America to supply a fleet management system, parental notifications system and safety training for their school bus fleet. SafeBus also supply a communications APP to the parents of the children who travel on the school districts school bus fleet so that they may receive notifications about the whereabouts of the school bus’s proximity to their child’s bus stop. The school may also use the APP to send notifications about important events, information about their children’s school, clubs and other activities in their school and community.

Planning

The animation started from a simple brief and initial script from the client. From this point we began refining the script and began coming up with concepts. When the script and concept was close enough, a storyboard and animatic (a simple, draft, slideshow type animation) was sent to the client. This helped confirm the chosen design and art style with the client and allowed them to see how the animations timings look and feel. We can always fix things later, but this planning stage is so valuable and makes sure we're going the right direction.

Asset Creation

The design, artistic choices and other elements are made concrete. The planning with the storyboard confirmed our script, now it's time to confirm our project is on brand. Assets are created in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Maxon Cinema 4D. These include scenery, characters, 3D models and other elements such as explosions, particles and light flashes.

Animation

Adobe After Effects was the tool of choice for bringing all the created assets together. Meticulous keyframing was carried out to bring all the scenery and characters to life. Many various plugins were used such as Element 3D, Trapcode Particular and more. Timing was kept with the animatic and storyboard.

Sound & Video Editing

For the final stage the animation was rendered into Adobe Premiere Pro. The voice over was edited and everything was glued together with the chosen music track. Audio levels were mastered and all final edits were made before rendering and delivery.