Alphatax — Brand Film & Motion Design
Alphatax is an American tax services company stepping into a new era. For their brand relaunch, a film was produced alongside OK Social — a piece that doesn't just introduce a new visual identity, it tells the story of a transformation.
The film moves from the weight of the old to the clarity of the new, using contrast as its main creative language: frame rate, color, texture, and rhythm all shift to mark the moment when Alphatax stops being what it was and becomes what it is now.
Selected frames — where the transformation happens
The production followed a structured creative pipeline: Style Frames, Animatic, an extensive exploration phase testing multiple animation approaches, followed by revisions and final render.
The film was primarily built in After Effects, with select scenes developed in Cavalry — chosen for its procedural animation capabilities, which allowed us to construct certain sequences with more precision and flexibility than a traditional keyframe approach would allow.
The contrast between the two worlds of Alphatax was achieved through deliberate technical choices. The vintage era was crafted with a 12fps frame rate, film grain, and a intentionally restrained color palette — communicating the feeling of something familiar but unremarkable, the "business as usual" of traditional tax services. The modern identity arrives at 24fps, clean, sharp, and full of color, marking the shift not just visually but rhythmically.
Layout and timing received careful attention throughout — ensuring every composition felt intentional and fluid in motion, even in scenes where the animation itself was more subtle.
Exploring the In-Between.
Before the final language of the film was defined, we went through an extensive exploration phase — testing different approaches to how the transition between the two worlds of Alphatax could work. Frame rate variations, color treatments, timing, and animation styles were all pushed in multiple directions before converging on the solution that made it into the final cut.
This phase was essential. The confidence of the final film comes directly from the uncertainty of what came before it.
Before the final language of the film was defined, we went through an extensive exploration phase — testing different approaches to how the transition between the two worlds of Alphatax could work. Frame rate variations, color treatments, timing, and animation styles were all pushed in multiple directions before converging on the solution that made it into the final cut.
This phase was essential. The confidence of the final film comes directly from the uncertainty of what came before it.
Building the Tool We Needed.
One of the most distinctive elements of this project was a custom tool developed specifically for it — an After Effects plugin that uses AI-generated depth maps to drive motion and blur effects directly from the footage itself.
One of the most distinctive elements of this project was a custom tool developed specifically for it — an After Effects plugin that uses AI-generated depth maps to drive motion and blur effects directly from the footage itself.
The plugin analyzes each frame of a video and extracts a depth map — a grayscale representation of spatial distance within the image. That depth information is then used as a dynamic blur map, creating transitions where elements emerge or dissolve not through generic effects, but through the actual three-dimensional structure of the footage.
The result is a transition effect that feels organic and deeply tied to the visual world of Alphatax's new brand — something that would be extraordinarily complex to achieve manually, frame by frame. Built with Claude as a development partner and running entirely locally — no cloud, no external processing — the tool gave us full creative control over one of the most technically demanding parts of the film.
Exploring the In-Between.
Before the final language of the film was defined, we went through an extensive exploration phase — testing different approaches to how the transition between the two worlds of Alphatax could work. Frame rate variations, color treatments, timing, and animation styles were all pushed in multiple directions before converging on the solution that made it into the final cut.
This phase was essential. The confidence of the final film comes directly from the uncertainty of what came before it.
Before the final language of the film was defined, we went through an extensive exploration phase — testing different approaches to how the transition between the two worlds of Alphatax could work. Frame rate variations, color treatments, timing, and animation styles were all pushed in multiple directions before converging on the solution that made it into the final cut.
This phase was essential. The confidence of the final film comes directly from the uncertainty of what came before it.
Credits
Client: Alphatax
Production: Ok Social
Creative Director: Jack Last
Animation e Motion Design: Gerson Germano, Andrew Ramirez
Design: Thiago Biazzoto
Year: 2026