2025
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EXPLAINER VIDEO
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CREATIVE DIRECTOR
The project
The challenge
This was a high-visibility project for Discord, one they’d been trying to bring to life for five years. Success meant more than just explaining what the platform is. It meant aligning a range of perspectives into one clear, strategic 90-second anthem.
We weren’t planning to touch the script beyond adding dialogue, but the provided draft was already over two minutes and missing the live-action moments. It was clear it needed an edit, and our proposed cuts would shave off time, reduce fatigue, tighten the pacing, and make every moment count. We needed marketers to see how Discord works and why people use it, without getting bored or lost in the explanation.
With a fast-paced timeline, we built the animatic in just four days. The updated script, new boards, music selects, and placeholder dialogue (filmed internally to simulate the live-action flow) all came together so they could see the piece come alive. With so many voices in the room, I knew simply sharing updates wasn’t enough. People needed to see the vision, and the animatic made that real.
I led the RFP with the insight: “Discord isn’t complex. It’s culture.” Marketers might see the platform as complicated, but that complexity is exactly what makes it meaningful to Gen Z. Our pitch leaned into that, proposing a story that showed the magic through a day-in-the-life of a server group. That framing helped win the work.
Once production began, the brief shifted from celebrating the experience to explaining it. We adapted fast, evolving the story without losing the voice and energy that make Discord unique.
With motion stretched thin and the script still in flux, I stepped in to fill gaps where we simply didn’t have the resources. Doing my best to ease the burn, I assembled the animatic, built cue cards, directed the live-action shoot, and handled post by organizing and editing footage. During this project I was editor, director, and CD, often all in the same day. I cleared the runway so the team could stay locked in and deliver great work under pressure.
The final cut landed so well that Discord asked for both a shorter cutdown and an alternate version for their press kit. What had stalled for five years became a widely used tool for marketing and sales—delivered in just five weeks.
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