DJ Aktive’s ‘The City’ music video inspires new Character Animator puppets
Just in time for summer fun, meet Platter Pirate and Aerial Al. These puppets are inspired by scenes from the music video The City by DJ Aktive. Both are amazing multifaceted puppets with animated backgrounds. The puppets and the music video were created by director, documentarian, and animator Konee Rok. He has produced projects featuring Grammy-winning, Oscar-winning, and multi-platinum acts such as Kanye West, Common, Wu-Tang Clan, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Rhymefest, and A Tribe Called Quest, just to name a few. Using Adobe Character Animator, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro, Konee Rok completed the animated music video for The City in just two months. Download both puppets today.
Regarding his use of Adobe Character Animator, Konee says, “Character Animator turned out to be a deeper toolbox than I anticipated! I gained a lot by navigating through all the new options to enhance the movements of my characters. It became an asset to the quality and speed of the animation process. I’m glad I invested the time to learn something new and it will be interesting to see how much further I can push these tools to bring more ideas to life in the future.”
Check out Aerial Al. He is the oldest FPV drone pilot in the world. Inspired by the drone-flying scenes in The City video. He enjoys executing his hobby from a peaceful park bench. He will never miss seeing his drone in flight since he has Left and Right Quarter head turns. Al flies his drone by pressing the “1” trigger. Once the drone’s rotors are moving with the Cycle Layers behavior, click and drag the drone around the screen to fly the drone. When you are ready to land the drone, just release the mouse button and Al will bring the drone back to the landing space over 3 seconds using the Dragger behavior’s Return to Rest parameter. Al also gets a case of the Happy Feet when he is flying his drone. Press “H” to trigger a Replay recording of his feet moving up and down in excitement. Tap the “2” key to see Al take the drone for a trip around the park then land back at his feet.
Al’s buddy is Platter Pirate. He is an old pirate/DJ shipwrecked at sea. Luckily, he was able to salvage his turntables & prop them up on driftwood keeping himself occupied while he prays for rescue. He can scratch and beat juggle using triggers “1” through “4” of different sounds/pirate phrases which include cycle lines showing record motions. He was inspired by the overhead DJ shot from The City video, but also named after a friend of Konee Rok’s who gave him his first copy of Adobe Premiere Pro.
Bring the rhythm of your city and your animations to life with your own puppet crew! Download all the puppets created by Konee Rok including B-Girl Beatrix, Neon Niki and Recess Rita.