Final Cause is an independently produced music video created for the track of the same name by artist DinoA1. As a long-time admirer of his work, I reached out with the intention of producing a visual piece that demonstrated both my passion for his music and my technical capability as a multimedia artist. The result is a stylised, grunge-inspired video that blends narrative, symbolism, and texture-driven animation to reflect the tone and emotional landscape of the song.
The production process involved a hybrid pipeline of character design, 3D animation, modelling, simulation, compositing, and stylised 2D overlays. Character models were sourced from Daz3D and customised for the project, then rigged using Mixamo animations as a foundation. Through Blender’s graph editor and armature controls, each movement was refined to achieve highly tailored performances aligned with the music’s pacing and themes.
A wide range of advanced techniques were implemented throughout the piece. These include cloth simulations for the scarecrow, custom armature rigging and animation for the crows, geometry nodes for the rose bloom and flower animation, rigid-body destruction physics for the brick wall, heart, and arms, and shape key animation to simulate a rhythmic, pulsing heart. A hand-drawn Grease Pencil overlay, synced to the track’s waveform, provided the distinctive sketchy, textured visual identity that defines the final aesthetic.
Several third-party assets supported the production. A low-poly skull by vidision (printables.com), a heart model by Vieew3d (gumroad.com), and a flame generator by specoolar (cgtrader.com) were integrated and fully re-shaded to match the video’s look. A tutorial by cheuqs also guided the development of the rose bloom system. All other assets including the lighter, guitar, scarecrow, and crow models, were entirely self-modelled and shaded.
Every element, whether sourced or created from scratch, was unified through a consistent visual design pipeline. Colours, materials, lighting, and compositing effects were intentionally curated to deliver a cohesive, gritty atmosphere that enhances the emotional delivery of DinoA1’s track and showcases my own stylistic voice as an emerging multimedia artist.