Pre-Production

Concept & Scripting

The concept behind “Look Forward” was built on a clear, two-part mission: show off Infinity Power Partners' technical expertise in energy procurement, and do it with a visual style that communicates precision, intelligence, and control. The script was written with that in mind—starting with a philosophical look at decision-making and procurement strategy, and ending with a strong call-to-action focused on partnership and forward thinking.

The 3D animation style we chose was abstract, conceptual, and data-driven—perfect for making invisible systems visible. We kicked off with a planetary-style opening that turned proprietary software into a kind of celestial architecture. From there, we transitioned into a flythrough of a stylized, digital Houston, grounding the more abstract ideas in a recognizable, physical place. This shift from orbital user interface metaphors to a digital cityscape built visual momentum and kept the story flowing logically from strategy to execution.

During the initial look development, our emphasis was on contrast, structure, and movement. Utilizing a KMZ model of Houston as a base, we incorporated models of City Hall Inside, the College of Architecture at the University of Houston, and the Texas Medical Center, drawing reference data from Google Maps. Refineries and industrial hubs were modeled with intent and placed to anchor important moments in the voiceover.

Rapid Prototyping

Early look development frames were rendered in Cinema 4D to lock in the visual tone. These test frames centered around building a logical digital world: modular terrain made of cloned cubes, animated procedurally using MoGraph effectors. Animation tests included towers of boxes rising and falling, textured with emissive materials that pulsed to show activity. These early runs helped us figure out how complex the camera movement could get and tested how well shaders held up during animation.

The city floor wasn’t just a surface—it was treated like a programmable matrix. Using the Cloner object and various effectors in C4D, we randomized vertical motion into thousands of modular cubes. A custom material system turned those cubes into lit-up skyscrapers without the tedious work of manually adding lights. The rapid prototyping (RP) sequences were critical in testing the timing and emotional pacing of the final flythrough—a single, continuous camera movement through the city meant we needed absolute control over the layout and timing to sync up with the voiceover.

At this stage, lighting and shot composition were kept simple—these were blueprints for concept approvals, not polished scenes. However, one key decision locked in early: using the “rings” animation as a central metaphor. That choice heavily influenced material creation and later transitions into the city-based scenes.

Early Visual Styles Explored

The opening orbital sequence set up a secondary visual style that deliberately broke away from the rigid city grid. Spheres, rings, and orbit paths symbolized proprietary systems intelligence. We weren’t going for a literal take on space; instead, the animation suggested system control and precision through glowing nodes and subtle movements. Particle trails from the orbits added another layer of technical complexity.

Color was kept on a tight leash from the start. The city grid stuck to a minimal palette: matte black and slate for structure, white and red for data points, and green strictly reserved for parks. Early shader tests nailed down the visibility language we needed: glowing lines for network connections, glass textures for logical flows, and neon-lit cubes to represent decision nodes.

Prototyping Animation Concepts

Beyond testing Cloner motion and city layout, the rings sequence needed its own motion studies. Spheres rotated in layered orbits while text labels like “Technical, data-driven approach” and “Proprietary software” followed preset paths. We explored Trapcode Particular and Element 3D during RP to manage particle emissions and orbital dynamics, giving the sequence a believable system logic.

Prototyping the city flythrough was a major technical checkpoint. Early versions quickly exposed the challenge: moving smoothly through a dense, modular environment without disorienting the viewer. To solve it, we built a system of camera rail splines in C4D to lock down the core motion path. Then we layered in manual tilts and pans to keep the scenes feeling cinematic without losing clarity.

Production

Look Development

Locking down the visual identity of “Look Forward” was all about refining the procedural digital cityscape and orbital UI metaphor we built out during prototyping. Every element of the city—from low-rise clusters to Houston’s iconic landmarks—was shaded with a procedural material system that simulated nighttime city lighting. Instead of hand-placing lights, we used randomization to drive illuminated windows, letting thousands of buildings pulse with asynchronous patterns. A single material setup controlled brightness, emission color, and visibility thresholds across the entire surface, keeping the project light on performance while heavy on visual depth.

The animation’s environment palette stayed consistent: dark grays made up the terrain, broken up with white, red, and occasional emissive details. The green highlights marked park spaces—one of the few organic visual cues in an otherwise grid-locked, algorithmic world—brought to life with a distinct shader and some geometry variation to stand out against the grid.

Lighting work focused on pushing contrast without killing depth. In the city scenes, soft rim and directional lights reinforced the silhouettes of the tallest towers, while subtle ambient occlusion in the shaders helped define mass and structure. In the opening orbital scenes, we layered in warm directional lighting and lens flares around the planetary nodes to create a stylized, luminous feeling that matched the project’s abstract, strategic vibe.

Design & Animation

Animating the city was a system-driven process from the start. Thousands of modular cubes were set to oscillate vertically using MoGraph random, step, and shader-based effectors inside Cinema 4D. Some cubes were rigged to reveal internal emissive panels as they rose, creating momentary flashes of light across the city floor—an abstract nod to market activity, not direct data feeds.

The rings animation at the opening centered around a 3D version of the Infinity logo. Toroidal paths orbited the core logo, each carrying floating spheres and text elements. We used constraints and spline dynamics to animate the paths with subtle delays and offsets, creating a sense of gravity and system interdependence. Later, Trapcode Particular and Element 3D were brought into compositing to fill out the space with particles and soft trails, giving the minimalist environment scale and density.

Camera work was one of the biggest technical challenges. The city flythrough was designed as one continuous move—no cuts. We laid down a spline for the core camera path but had to refine it over and over to make transitions between architectural landmarks and information overlays feel smooth. At strategic points, the camera slowed, tilted, or panned to highlight key features—all while keeping immersion tight, as if viewers were on a guided tour through a living, breathing data system.

Style Choices and Reasoning

The style leaned heavily into structure and clarity over photorealism. Every decision reinforced Infinity Power Partners' abstract, technical brand position. The cityscape was stylized yet recognizable—programmable, not literal. No detailed rooftops or intricate windows; instead, we used lighting density and emissive geometry to suggest activity and usage.

The orbital intro sequence balanced the visual story: softer, luminous, and expansive, it symbolized high-level strategic systems, while the city sequences anchored the narrative in execution and precision.

All modeling, animation, and scene layout were completed inside Cinema 4D. We chose the physical renderer for final output to get accurate reflections, depth of field, and realistic light falloff. Render passes were carefully built for compositing, separating out reflections, ambient occlusion, specular highlights, emissions, and depth to maintain control in post.

Technical Details

The production pipeline layered in several procedural and rendering techniques. We cloned city structures procedurally through C4D’s MoGraph module, with material behavior driven by noise patterns and box ID values. Animation caches kept things stable during render farm distribution. The rivers slicing through the city were modeled as low-poly extrusions with glass shaders, letting them refract and reflect ambient glows for clear visual separation.

The orbital ring system was rigged with hierarchical null groups, isolating camera targets, particle effects, and text elements. Lens flares added in post—punched up the planetary moments, keeping viewer attention locked onto key messages.

Trapcode was used to map vector paths and generate particle trails between nodes in the city, visualizing the flow of contracts and data. Emissive cubes and translucent overlays embedded in the environment were animated in sync with the camera's movement to keep everything feeling connected.

Challenges and Solutions

Render load was the biggest production bottleneck. With procedural movement, complex shaders, and dense MoGraph setups, even small lighting tweaks triggered long test passes. We tackled this by leaning hard on render passes and compositing. Frames were prioritized and distributed across a render farm, and heavy features like motion blur and depth of field were pushed to post-production where possible.

Another challenge was visual clarity in the dense environment. A layered contrast strategy—dark bases, mid-gray structures, and bright red/white accents—kept UI and text elements readable without washing out the environment. A global digital grid overlay, added in post, reinforced spatial awareness without the need to show terrain detail.

Post-Production & Delivery

Final Compositing & Color Grading

All rendered frames were brought into After Effects for final compositing and polish. A major priority during this phase was making sure every motion graphic overlay—labels, orbits, flares, UI cues—fit naturally within the 3D world. Every render layer—diffuse, specular, emission, reflections, and depth—was recombined to expand dynamic range and punch up contrast, locking in the final aesthetic.

We made heavy use of compositing plugins for advanced visual enhancement. Trapcode Particular was deployed to populate the ring and planetary sequences with fine particles, creating scale and atmosphere. Digital dotted lines and animated UI connections were built using Plexus and Trapcode, carefully synced to the motion paths of both the orbital and city environments.

Color correction followed a brand-guided map: slate blues, matte blacks, and crisp whites set the tone for the city sequences; warm bronze and amber hues defined the orbital scenes. Subtle vignettes and exposure tweaks helped lead the eye through camera moves without needing jarring cuts. Selective sharpening enhanced building outlines, text markers, and glowing pathways. Curves, Levels, and targeted HSL corrections kept visuals consistent and on-brand across every scene. Color palette, typography, and design systems stayed fully within the brand guidelines. Fonts rendered cleanly across both the orbital and city sequences, and final titles followed official brand styling. Red was used sparingly to mark precision points and UI nodes, while green stayed exclusive to city parks.

Nothing was placed randomly—every glow, flare, orbit, and grid was positioned with intent, supporting the story arc and reinforcing Infinity’s identity as a precision-driven, data-centric partner. The minimalist white final message delivered a clear, confident finish to a visually rich journey, anchoring the brand narrative with authority and focus.

Lens flares were added to refinery and industrial areas to imply ongoing activity and to spotlight key nodes. Floating particles, soft glows, and animated sparks flowed along Plexus lines, emphasizing the networked heartbeat of the digital city.

Orbital rings and planetary nodes got extra atmospheric treatment: scattering, depth-of-field blur, and volumetric haze. These small touches gave the opening scenes a dimensional, slightly dreamlike quality that contrasted sharply with the crisp, linear visuals of the city.

Motion blur was handled entirely in post using pixel motion techniques, allowing us to tweak blur levels easily without slowing down the 3D render pipeline.

To depict power contract logic, we animated a burst of thousands of data particles with Trapcode Particular and tracer methods. Inside each cluster, we embedded number strings and micro-text, suggesting dense data flows without overwhelming the visuals. These sequences were designed to be fast, rich, and evocative of data-driven speed and precision.

Infographics, UI Overlays, Data Visualization

Floating labels and callouts like “Transparency,” “Suppliers,” and “Best Structures” were positioned directly inside the 3D space. Each was layered with dotted leader lines and animated with scaling and opacity changes to feel integrated, not pasted on. 

The final “Save time. Save money. Save your energy.” cards were designed for maximum clarity: light backgrounds, minimal copy, and centered type. These were handled as 2D overlays to ensure sharpness and legibility on all screen types.

Dotted grid overlays were introduced in post across the city scenes to pull spatial logic together. These thin grids floated above the modular terrain, helping structure motion and composition without adding noise, and reinforcing the disciplined, measurable mindset behind Infinity Power Partners’ work.

Final Edits & Optimization

Once all compositing and enhancement passes were approved, a full assembly edit was completed in After Effects, with some additional cleanup and fine-tuning in Premiere Pro. Audio and VO were synced with picture during this phase. All final shots were stabilized, levels-balanced, and exported into multiple delivery formats.

The master render was delivered at 1920x1080 resolution in ProRes HQ.

Transcript:

When you negotiate your electric power are you tracking all rates the forward curves and the latest market data? Do you use proprietary software to help you take a technical data-driven approach to procurement? Have you negotiated thousands of power contracts?

Infinity Power Partners is your guide to navigating your power procurement process. We get to know your business and your operational requirements. We discuss your risk parameters and create a customized risk profile that breaks down your needs. We evaluate these factors against similar businesses and load profiles, and then apply Infinity Power Partners’ technical approach to the forward energy markets as a decision-making guide. Most importantly, we show you each step of the process with complete transparency. Infinity vets and negotiates the best structures, suppliers, and contracts for your business.

We are your long-term partner. After locking in your contract, Infinity stays in sync with your business, continually monitoring the market indicators and your operational changes to ensure your success.

We invest in you.

Save time. Save money. Save your energy.

Hire Infinity Power partners today and you'll look forward to tomorrow.