Fangz ShuiA custom double-sided zoetrope picture disc, built from individually illustrated frames that animate as the record spins. Complete with illustrated artwork, custom die-cut vinyl packaging and obi strip.
Some projects start with a carefully considered brief. This one started over lunch at Hawke’s Brewing in Marrickville. Our Creative Director Lachlan sat down with Jameel, Sam and their manager Rob to talk about a new FANGZ record coming out through Impressed Recordings. Impressed wanted to do something special with the vinyl and had floated the idea of a zoetrope. Could we make one? Lachlan immediately said yes, figuring we could probably work it out.
Turns out, making a record animate on a turntable isn’t particularly straightforward. What followed was a lot of research, endless printouts, multiple versions, test after test and far too many individually illustrated frames. The artwork had to do two jobs at once: look good sitting still and somehow become something completely different when the record started spinning.
Eventually, it worked. A double-sided picture disc covered in hand illustrated frames that transform into looping animations as it turns. The catch is that you can’t actually see any of it with the naked eye. Point the right viewer app at it, or turn the lights off and hit it with a strobe, and suddenly the artwork comes alive. We wrapped the whole thing in a custom die cut sleeve with an obi strip, then carried the artwork across a full merch range produced by Jungle.
With the record finally doing what it was supposed to do, we took everything we’d made and threw it all over socials. The illustrated world of the record became the basis of the release and tour campaign, rolling out across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook alongside a street poster run produced by Plakkit. The same frames we’d spent an unreasonable amount of time getting to move on vinyl now had another life plastered around the city and filling phone screens.
There was also the small issue of explaining how the thing actually worked. We got Woodie and Sam in front of the camera and made a how to video showing people how to unlock the animation themselves. We scripted, shot and edited the piece, then pulled apart the illustrations again to create a series of animated assets for the wider campaign. After spending so long trying to make drawings move on a physical record, getting them moving on a screen was pretty easy.
The whole thing wrapped up with a listening party and tap takeover at Young Henrys in Newtown. We created custom beer decals, merch and artwork for the night, then came along to document it all. Tunes blasted, beers were poured and the zoetrope finally made its way out of our studio and into people’s hands. A pretty good ending for something that started with lunch and a very confident “yeah, we can do that.”
Social Marketing & Street PostersSocial, street posters and tour creative developed from the record artwork, rolling the visual identity across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook alongside a physical poster campaign produced by Plakkit.
Animation & FilmCustom animated content brought the illustrated artwork off the record and onto screen, supported by a scripted and filmed how-to video showing fans how to view the zoetrope animation.
Young HenrysA FANGZ listening party and tap takeover at Young Henrys in Newtown, complete with custom beer decals, merchandise and venue artwork, with Good Decisions capturing the night.
