THE SPIRIT OF MUSIC

ELEMENTAL ROCKS THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE'S CHOICE MUSIC AWARDS

Ancient wisdom can be found in the boreal forests of Eastern Manitoba, hidden among acres of pink and grey granite bedrock.

Aboriginal rock formations, or petroforms, representing turtles, snakes, beavers and thunderbirds, contain the teachings of Manitoba's First Nations people. They were also the inspiration for Elemental's motion graphics packaging of the inaugural Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards.

"Given that this was a big awards show, airing nationally, we wanted to create something modern and innovative. But it needed to have a traditional, undeniably Aboriginal feel to it," said Elemental's Adam Duguay. These rock formations became the ideal starting point.

After shooting footage of the petroforms with a Jib, Elemental brought in illustrator Don Monkman to create illustrations based the petroforms, one for each of the awards categories being presented on the big night.

The colourful illustrations made the perfect backdrop to introduce the nominees. The challenge now was to bring the footage and the illustrations together in a way that honoured tradition while looking to the future.

"We really wanted to emphasize the spiritual aspects of the petroforms and what they represent, so we created a series of graceful particle effects to transition between the footage and the illustrations, almost like spirits coming out of the rocks," Duguay said.