FREAK
Freak is a short animated music video inspired by Sub Urban’s song “Freak.” The animation follows a dark, circus-themed narrative centered around a jester and a sentient doll. The doll struggles to break free from the jester’s control, symbolizing the tension between autonomy and manipulation'; echoing the song’s mature themes of control, identity, and rebellion.
Designed for audiences aged 15–30, Freak embraces a dark, experimental aesthetic appealing to fans of alternative and indie art styles. Our creative direction was guided by audience research into similar music videos and viral trends across TikTok and YouTube, positioning the animation for engagement with young adult audiences drawn to expressive, unconventional storytelling.
FREAK animated music video created by REMA for Sub Urban’s song Freak
Production Process
Pre-Production
The project began with storyboarding, scripting, and choreography planning. As project manager, I oversaw the scheduling of motion capture sessions, booking studio space, and coordinating technical setups. We developed a detailed storyboard to align narrative beats with musical rhythm and emotional tone.
Motion Capture & Data Processing
We captured performances using Vicon’s Shogun Live, then refined the raw data in Shogun Post to remove noise, fix marker errors, and ensure clean tracking.
The cleaned data was imported into MotionBuilder for retargeting, blending, and F-Curve adjustments, allowing for precise animation refinement. Finally, we integrated everything in Maya for scene composition, keyframing, rigging, and rendering. The video was then assembled and finalized in Premiere Pro.
Technical Pipeline
Shogun Live → Shogun Post: Motion data capture and cleanup
MotionBuilder: Character mapping, animation blending, and motion refinement
Maya: Scene composition, rigging, keyframing, rendering
Premiere Pro & Media Encoder: Final editing, synchronization, and export
Our team employed two parallel workflows:
Animation refinement and blending in MotionBuilder.
Keyframe polishing and environmental adjustments in Maya.
Challenges & Creative Solutions
We encountered a variety of technical and production challenges that deepened our problem-solving skills:
Calibration Errors: Solved through dynamic movement recalibration techniques.
File Management: Established standardized naming conventions to prevent data loss.
Marker Occlusion: Reconstructed missing data through manual animation in Maya.
Prop Misalignment: Applied parent constraints and manual frame-by-frame adjustments.
Jittering and Clipping: Smoothed F-curves and corrected joint orientations to refine movement.
Unrigged Models: Re-rigged character models optimized specifically for MotionBuilder compatibility.
Head Tracking Issues: Reinforced motion capture caps with Velcro for stability.
Skills & Insights Gained
Through Freak, we gained hands-on experience in end-to-end motion capture production and developed proficiency across multiple disciplines:
Motion Capture Setup, Calibration, and Multi-Character Recording
Data Cleanup and Retargeting Pipelines
Rigging and Character Mapping
Animation Editing with F-Curves and Keyframes
Scene Composition and Rendering in Maya
Team Coordination, Scheduling, and File Management
Most importantly, we learned how to translate a conceptual artistic vision into a fully realized motion-capture animation, blending storytelling, performance, and technology into a unified creative work.
Team Members:
RaiHaus – Project Manager, Motion Capture Technician, Data Cleaner, Rigger, Storyboard Creator, Renderer
Elina Bodnar – Actor, Animator, Script Writer, Motion Capture Data Cleaner, Choreographer, Video Editor
Mohammed Makda – Environment Builder, Script Writer, Motion Capture Technician, Stunt Coordinator, Renderer
Adrian – Actor, Choreographer, Session Recorder, Equipment Manager