The fine peoples at the Vice electronic music label Thump hit up Mr Munkowitz to create their new bumper that goes in front of every video and piece of content from the channel. So Munkowitz called upon myself and Conor Grebel (Bedtimes.xxx) to form the triad of design known as the Potrero Porn Productions and we immediately dug into the brief, musing on how Thump and electronic music culture live in a symbiotic relationship, each reacting to the evolving impact of the other.

As a result, three physical treatments of the logo would be shot in-camera and then edited together to create a visual rhythm between organic metal and reflective strings. In the final moment, Thump’s logo would emerge in a clean, multi-planar acrylic form, with moving light sources cascading across for the final reveal. In the end however, only two of the three setups made the cut as the fine people at Vice wanted a more homogenous aesthetic, yet the guiding principles still prevailed and informed the imagery captured in-camera.

To create the organic ripples that affected the Gallium, our team hooked up a series of synthesizers and blasted resonating subwoofer pulses from a large speaker that caused the pools of gallium resting on it to ripple and form detailed sound wave patterns. These sounds were then captured on-set, and used in the final sound design composition.

For the lighting, they used a variety of sources to pan across the logo at various speeds, and also using a variety of color tones, frequently hand-held and sometimes programed with a custom iPad-controlled scheme. The washes of light and color inspired creative editing of the resulting footage, enabling a layered logo formation that was textured, had beautiful internal shadowing and a natural depth and physical presence to it all.

Creatively, one of the key ingredients in the team was with local DP Devin Whetstone, who took his Alexa Mini and Master Prime 100mm Macro lens and donated them for the endowment of professional results. Other key members were superGaffer Chris Galdes, ultraGrips Dakota Wilder and Branden Paris and additional Creative love from frequent collaborator Mr Mike Williams. Overall, it was an amazing team giving their time and passion to make it great, donating their time towards the good vibes and pure intentions to collaborate and create for the Love.

Unfortunately this treatment didn't make it through to the final bumper, but still revealed some serious beauty and discoveries for the team.