JUSTICE

In honor of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, I had the opportunity to collaborate with my brother Daniel Cruz aka I am Bún, on this personal creative project.

Hearing about such a tragic and heartbreaking event deeply affected me, and the mix of emotions that followed became the driving force behind this collaboration. As a child of immigrants, I found myself thinking about how easily this could have been someone close to me, my brothers, sister, or parents, which made the subject feel very personal. I wanted to use my creativity to process those emotions while helping spread a meaningful message and honor Lorenzo’s memory.

ShadowMerus: Collaborating with such an experienced motion designer, who also happens to be my brother, was an incredibly valuable experience. It taught me how important communication is, from handing off renders and receiving feedback to bouncing ideas off each other. Seeing his animation work cohesively with mine and come together as one unified piece was one of the most rewarding parts. I also had the freedom to experiment and express my own creative style. That extended to the sound design, where we incorporated a short guitar loop covering Amor Eterno by Juan Gabriel, adding a more personal touch to the tribute.

I am Bún: I wanted to play with kinetic type and the word "Justice." Realizing "Justice" has the same number of letters as "Lorenzo," I experimented with making it interactive. Using null drives, sliders with predetermined calculations, and XYZ space, "Justice" flawlessly transforms into "Lorenzo."

Audio Credits

Car tire gravel - TRP (Freesound)

Whoosh sound - Floraphonic-swing-whoosh-in-room-2-234253 (Pixabay)

Guitar Tracking (Lead): Christopher Cruz (@Shadowmerus)

Guitar Tracking (Rhythm): Daniel Cruz