Hulu - Look At Me: XXXTENTACION
Client: Hulu Look At Me: XXXTENTACION chronicles the life and ascent to fame of Jahseh Onfroy, aka XXXTENTACION, a genre-bending musician who is one of the most streamed artists in history. I was the Lead Motion Designer and worked closely with Sabaah Folayan (the director) to create graphics that would support her vision for the film and the overall story.
Director: Sabaah Folayan
Mid 2021 - Early 2022
Opening Title Snippet
Looping excerpt of opening titles that I designed and animated.
Lettering
Original hand lettering I created in Photoshop then tweaked and animated in After Effects.
"SAD!" album cover
Main reference for opening title.
Social Media
Above: early style frame of a Tumblr post
Social media played a central role in XXXTENTACION’s career, so naturally it features prominently in the film.
In early brainstorming meetings, Sabaah emphasized making the digital world of social media feel tangible. We all agreed on the concept of representing social media posts on panes of glass as if it were a device from the future.
Developing the glass asset was a collaborative effort between Noel and I that went through many iterations. I nailed down the embossed look of the social media logos on the glass and she designed the color and texture of the glass itself. The final glass asset was used as a base for the many social media posts and digital archival footage featured throughout the film.
Video Player
I adjusted the glass asset to be neutral and designed this video player to display archival footage from YouTube.
Styleframes for baby pics montage
Alternate styleframe with ripped paper texture. Neither treatment ended up in the film.
References & Design Exploration
In meetings early on in the design process, Sabaah emphasized bridging the gap between the digital and physical. Most of XXXTENTACION’s album artwork and overall aesthetic has a very gritty, roughly textured quality to it, but the majority of the archival material in the film was from the digital world of social media and the internet.
Sabaah wanted to avoid an overly slick representation of the digital realm that most of the film takes place in. She also wanted to avoid leaning too heavily on design tropes seen in true-crime documentaries (lots of distressing, heavy vignettes, etc.) Translating her vision into something visually cohesive was a challenge, but we came up with some unique solutions through exploring various treatments.
This mood board was put together by Noël Anderson early on and it was used as a base for the visual development of the film.
Initially, the graphics team was just Noël Anderson and I, with me in more of a supporting role, but as the dynamics amongst the team evolved I was promoted to Lead Designer/Animator. Annie Zhao and Warren Heller joined close to the end of post-production and were indispensable in helping us get over the finish line.
Credits
Director: Sabaah Folayan
Producers: Chloe Campion, Darcy McKinnon
Post Producer: Lauren Evangelista
Lead Motion Designer: Dwayne Sealey
Motion Designers: Noël Chase Anderson, Warren Heller, Annie Xing Zhao