Hip Hop Caucus Doc
"Ain't Your Mama's Heat Wave" is a comedy film that focuses on the St. Paul's district of Norfolk, VA, which is a black public housing community. Due to climate flooding, sea-level rise, and a legacy of racist urban policies, the community is asking for action. We were asked to create 5 interstitials that should to flow seamlessly within the live-action footage, and each one should have its own animation style and feel.
Concept & Approach
The project involved creating 5 distinct interstitials, each designed to blend into the live-action footage while highlighting the film’s core themes. These interstitials needed to feel like organic extensions of the narrative rather than breaks, balancing creative vision with practical constraints. For example, the Norfolk founding story required historical accuracy paired with engaging visuals, leading to the development of dynamic style frames featuring textured illustrations and infographics. The climate justice interstitial presented complex data on pollution's disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, so we used motion graphics like kinetic typography and graphic overlays to align the visuals with the powerful on-screen messages.
Above you can see some of the style frames I designed for the interstitial 1 and below for interstitial 5.
Here’s the final animation — all the style frames brought to life by Darren Day & Felipe Ramirez! ✨
Unfiltered Truths🤫
This one’s close to my heart. It was my first project with Shapes and Forms — and the first time I really got to flex my design muscles. Up until then, I hadn’t had many chances to fully own the visual direction, so having the freedom to craft every frame felt surreal.
We worked with HipHop Caucus, an incredible client who truly appreciated our vision. I was designing during the day on my side of the world, and by night, passing it off to the animation team in LA (hello, PST grind). The workflow was wild but so rewarding.
Last-minute changes meant the final animation had to be sped up a lot, which affected the flow a bit — not as smooth and slick as the animators initially planned. So no, it’s not a piece I’m fully proud of in its final form. But I am so proud of what we built together. The process, the team, the trust — that’s the real win.
Credits
Executive Direction: Thomas Knight
AC & CD: Fabian Farzon
Design: Beatriz Diogo, Darren Dai
Animation: Felipe Ramirez, Darren Dai, Beatriz Diogo, Daniel Dawley
Producer: Alexandra Ramirez