George Clooney: Endgame in Sudan from Jeff Trussell on Vimeo.

CrumplePop users write to us for many different reasons – they might have a support question (“What format should I use for my PAL DV Anamorphic footage that I transcoded to DVCProHD 720p24?”), or they might be demanding that we give them their money back or else they will tell Philip Bloom. Recently, however, we received a very unusual email: CrumplePop, we were told, had “played a part in stopping a war before it started :)”. The smiley at the end somehow made it seem very serious. What in the world could this have been about?

It turned out to be freelance producer Jeff Trussell, fresh off of a project with George Clooney called “Endgame in Sudan”. The video had aired on the front page of YouTube the day of the referendum that led to an independent South Sudan, and Jeff had turned to CrumplePop to provide motion graphics for the piece.

We wanted to know more, so we asked Jeff.

CrumplePop:”Endgame in Sudan” is part of a larger campaign. Could you explain this campaign for us, and how the video fits in?

Jeff Trussell: People worldwide are familiar with Sudan because of the genocide which took place in Darfur. There was the potential for an equally tragic situation to arise in January as Southern Sudan voted to break away from the north and form its own country. This video was part of a larger effort by the Enough Project to bring attention to the elections to make sure no violence occurred. To quote George Clooney: “To stop a war before it starts.” And that’s just what happened — Africa is now home to the world’s newest country, South Sudan.

CrumplePop: What was your role in the production?

Jeff Trussell: I was editor and motion graphics designer. I also helped write the piece.

CrumplePop: What was it shot on, and what was the workflow like?

Jeff Trussell: Everything was shot on a Canon 5d by the amazing photographer Tim Freccia and transcoded from H264 to Pro Res 422. I used FCP and AfterEffects in post.

CrumplePop: Why did you choose to use CrumplePop effects, and how did they
fit into the production?

Jeff Trussell: I used two CrumplePop products – Lower Thirds and Revealer. Lower Thirds is superb for creating text on screen that pops without overwhelming the footage. It’s great for traditional subtitling as well — I’ve always hated putting a slug under yellow text – ugh. Revealer helped me nail down the feel of the video — slightly ominous but ultimately hopeful. Both worked seamlessly with the GFX I created in AfterEffects.

So hats off to Jeff and the Enough Project.