NIVETHA KANNAN | MY WORK

MOTION REEL

Art Direction & Animation & Design & Editing

00:05 Tobin’s Spirit Guide opening | Animated & Designed for Sony’s Mobile app, “Ghostbusters World”

00:09 Texting Animations | Animated & Designed for Hulu’s show, “Dollface”

00:12 All onscreen was Animated & Designed by me for clients like Disney, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.

00:14 Pepe The frog Animations | Animated & Designed these Pepe the Frog Animations to promote the “Feels Good Man” Documentary

00:16 Invincible Social Post animations | Animated & Designed to promote the Amazon Prime Series "Invincible" 00:20 Elle Fanning IG Stories | Animated and Designer for Hulu’s show, “The Great”

00:28 Wall of Giphy Stickers | Animated & Designed all the stickers shown

00:30 Title build animation | Animated

00:32 Hello Kitty flying sequence | Animated & Designed

00:24 Hello Kitty beating competition sequence | Animated & Designed

00:37 Famous Franchise ‘Versus’ Sequences | Animated and Designed

00:41 Toy car blasted | Animated and Designed

00:42 Animated the paper puppets to look “as life-like as possible”

00:47 Twitter Animation | Modeled the birds, textured & rigged them, and Animated them all in blender

Audio Credit: Barbarian empire dub by Mastermind XS licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

THE TOYS THAT MADE US ANIMATIONS

Netflix | Animations | Documentary | 2017-2018

I had the immense please of working under Arthur Jones of Future Smells to create assets and animated segments for the Netflix original documentary: The Toys That Made Us. Starting from gathering images of retro TVs, Rifles, action figures, etc, I composed many of the animated segments from the show using photoshop and animated everything using Aftereffects- it truly was a multi step project.

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MUPPETS HAUNTED MANSION

Disney+ | Design & Animation & Editing | Movie | 2022

As part of Disney+'s social media team at Watson DG, I helped launch the Muppets Haunted Mansion movie in 2022 with a variety of fun social media edits and posts. As the lead designer for this project, I established a look and feel for the creative that aligned with the movie's existing visuals and narrative. The social media creative needed to be bold, spooky, and quintessentially "Muppets." I ultimately created a purple, smoky aesthetic. I animated bats and smoke that fly out and added lightning for extra spookiness. I wanted the text throughout to have a smoky, ethereal look, so I gave it a ghost-like animation. The overall look and feel were versatile and could be adapted to different social posts.

I created the Instagram story below in just a couple of hours. The challenge was finding each Easter egg and determining the best way to lay out the scene on my canvas. The goal was to ensure the main action and the Easter egg were both visible while leaving enough space for any UI elements. I also had to figure out how to reveal the Easter egg in each scene. Once the initial planning was complete, the actual design process went quickly, and our client was thrilled with how we executed this story idea. Below the video is our in-feed static version of the Easter egg haunt.

The series of stories below were designed to showcase the infamous "stretching portraits" scene from The Haunted Mansion. I started with the static portraits and created masks in After Effects to animate the stretching. My goal was to make the video feel energetic and engaging, even though the viewer is essentially looking at a portrait the entire time. To add more appeal, I incorporated dynamic text animations to make the content more engaging and visually interesting.

Below is a video I designed and animated that highlights the iconic changing portraits scene from The Haunted Mansion. I knew the audience would be seeing these portraits up close, so I focused on making the transitions from the regular portraits to the nightmare portraits visually intriguing. I worked hard to ensure the transitions were quick enough to avoid being distracting while still detailed enough to be captivating.

I created the below sing-a-long videos for Disney+'s social accounts. The main challenge here was to create these videos within only a few hours. Even with the time crunch, I was able to deliver some fun and customized Muppets Haunted Mansion animations.

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GOOGLE CLOUD MLB SOCIAL CAMPAIGN

Google | Motion | Design | Direction | 2022

During my time at Battenhall, I art directed several social posts for Google Cloud to promote their partnership with MLB. Our client had a very specific vision for these social cards, which is reflected in the explorations we did to create them. Initially, I leaned into the “stats/data” angle by creating bespoke “jitter” animations for the text. However, the client wanted a more stylish approach, inspired by the Google NEXT campaign. In response, I created visual explorations that aligned more closely with their feedback, making the campaign feel more stylish and focused on baseball rather than data. In the end, I worked closely with the Art Director on the client’s side, who provided clear static directions for each design. I was responsible for art directing the motion elements. I led a team of three designers to complete the project. I personally worked on two of the videos, while the others were animated and edited by our talented freelancers, with my art direction guiding their work.

VISUAL EXPLORATION 1: Initially, I leaned into the “stats/data” angle by creating bespoke “jitter” animations for the text.

VISUAL EXPLORATION 2: The client wanted a more stylish approach, inspired by the Google NEXT campaign. In response, I created visual explorations that aligned more closely with their feedback, making the campaign feel more stylish and focused on baseball rather than data.

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DOLLFACE LAUNCH CAMPAIGN

I created the following designs at This is Tommy for Hulu's launch of "Dollface"- a highly anticipated show produced by Margot Robbie with a star studded cast.

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THE GREAT

HULU | Motion | Design | 2020

In 2020, I had the immense pleasure of leading the design work we did at Tommy promoting the launch of Hulu's critically acclaimed series "The Great." The show was an incredibly quirky period piece which relied on an amazing cast to delivery smart jokes and timely social commentary. To highlight this, our team created funny video pieces; sassy giphy stickers; and a plethora of off-the-beat social graphics to welcome audiences into the show's zany world.

Below are a set of stickers I designed using green screen footage of the cast. Our amazing creative lead decided which sayings and scenes we should focus on and I designed and animated them on Photoshop and AfterEffects

Here is a set of Birthday wishes for the cast of 'The Great' which were posted on the show's social channels.

The video below displays two Pinterest ads I concepted and made in After effects. The ad is intended to, at first, look like it is part of the normal Pinterest UI but it is disrupted in the middle till the disguised ad itself is destroyed and replaced with something that looks more like a traditional ad.

Our team was given a number of green screen and casual footage of cast members asking viewers to 'swipe up.' I cleaned up this footage to create engaging Instagram stories for the show.

The below video is a compilation of narrative cuts I edited together to go on "The Great"'s social channels. The trick was to convey as much as possible within 15 seconds which is the time limit on Instagram stories. Each of these stories also has a 1x1 version for in-feed posts.

The following videos were a group of Instagram stories our team at Tommy concepted which juxtaposes what is 'expected' in certain situations in the show with what actually happens. This was a challenging group of videos to design and edit since they needed to fit within the 15 second IG Story limit.

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INVINCIBLE

Amazon Prime Video | Social Media Campaign | Design & Editing & Animation | 2021-2024

During my time at Tommy and Battenhall, I led and directed my team to create the social media campaign for Invincible. This campaign involved video editing in Premiere, compositing and designing in Photoshop, and animating in After Effects. I guided my team through this project by setting the initial look and feel of the assets shown below. We had significant creative freedom in choosing which characters to feature and which scenes to highlight. I ensured that each asset effectively portrayed characters and plot details relevant to the overall tone and message of the marketing campaign.

My team at Tommy suggested creating weekly episodic posters for each new episode of Invincible. These were originally a fun spoof on typical Marvel-style superhero posters for social media. To our surprise, fans loved them and eagerly anticipated each new poster. In fact, the demand was so high that Amazon ended up producing merch based on these designs. To create each poster, I combined episode stills and enhanced them with shading, overlays, and lighting effects. When needed, I also illustrated characters myself to fit the final composition.

My team at Tommy was tasked with creating countdowns for the Invincible premiere. We decided to style them as aged comic book covers, zooming in on the issue number to represent the countdown. My job was to bring this idea to life. I always love taking a simple brief and going hard on it. After designing vintage comic covers using existing illustrations, I went above and beyond by adding 3D effects to give them a sense of movement, and creating laser beam ‘attack’ effects in After Effects that burst from the covers for added impact.

My team at Tommy pitched the idea to turn key battles in the Invincible show into fun video game themed social videos. My task was to make this come into reality. I started in photoshop by designing out all the screens I wanted - the start screen, the battle screen, the versus screen, etc. I then created 8-bit versions of things like the logo and the characters using a combination of effects and manual illustration. I then brought the piece into aftereffects where I really got to play with the animation. I edited the video + sound in premiere to finish it all off.

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VISUAL DIRECTION

Design & Animation & Art Direction | Proposals

The following are visual directions included in proposals I've done at my past companies for various clients.

BRIEF : For Tommy’s pitch for Respect, I had to develop a visual style before the film’s release or even a trailer—relying purely on my interpretation of what the movie might look like.

STAKES : While pitch materials aren’t final, they’re a chance to prove an understanding of the film’s tone and showcase design skills. Strong visuals can help sell the creative approach to the client.

MY APPROACH : Below, you’ll find the visual style I proposed for the movie’s social campaign. I drew inspiration from Aretha’s life—her resilience, glamour, and the depth of her journey. To reflect this, I combined Hollywood glitz with a deep blue-purple gradient, evoking both royalty and melancholy. The rich effects also served to highlight our design capabilities, reinforcing the pitch’s strength.

BRIEF : At Battenhall, we pitched a social campaign for the kids' show Karma’s World. While we received posters, show stills, and a style guide, the social media design was left entirely up to us.

STAKES : The campaign needed to appeal to young audiences while staying true to the show’s themes. It was important to create a look that was fun, engaging, and visually distinct while respecting the established brand identity.

MY APPROACH : I drew inspiration from popular young women’s brands—sparkles from Barbie, gradients and icons from Monster High, and bold typography from Dora. To honor the show’s hip-hop roots, I also studied rap album covers and shows, incorporating bold textures and visuals. Finally, I blended these influences with the official Karma’s World style guide to create a cohesive, exciting social media look.

Battenhall Industry Talk Visual Direction

BRIEF : I was tasked with designing Battenhall’s industry presentation proposal, ensuring it aligned with the agency’s established visual style while elevating its impact.

STAKES : The presentation needed to be both engaging and authoritative—reflecting Battenhall’s identity as a social agency while positioning the company as a knowledgeable industry leader. Since the audience consisted of other industry experts, the design had to balance creativity with professionalism.

MY APPROACH : I combined Battenhall’s signature bold colors, icons, and shapes with inspiration from magazine and newspaper layouts. Drawing from The New York Times, I blended the dynamic nature of social media with the structured, timeless appeal of editorial design—creating a presentation that was both visually compelling and credible.

BRIEF : At Battenhall, we pitched a social campaign for the kids' show Karma’s World. While we received posters, show stills, and a style guide, the social media design was left entirely up to us.

STAKES : The campaign needed to appeal to young audiences while staying true to the show’s themes. It was important to create a look that was fun, engaging, and visually distinct while respecting the established brand identity.

MY APPROACH : I drew inspiration from popular young women’s brands—sparkles from Barbie, gradients and icons from Monster High, and bold typography from Dora. To honor the show’s hip-hop roots, I also studied rap album covers and shows, incorporating bold textures and visuals. Finally, I blended these influences with the official Karma’s World style guide to create a cohesive, exciting social media look.

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