I’m Arjun Ram Srivatsa. I am an artist, musician, poet, animator, creative director, video director, video editor, motion designer, graphic designer, sound designer, podcaster, journalist, art critic, fiction essayist, trend forecaster, birdwatcher, socialist, and friend living in Manhattan. 

I hold a masters degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. I was most recently the Director of Programming and Development for Pitchfork. From 2020 to 2021 I hosted Diversity Hire, a podcast about being “POC” in media.

You can find more examples of my work on Instagram. You  can email me at arjunrsri@gmail.com

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Moodboard, Video Series, Pitchfork

Monthly video series for Pitchfork’s social platforms.

We spoke with artists about what they would have on a mood board for their newly released album. We talked to Alvvays about bagpipes, Kali Uchis about sunsets, Cate Le Bon about Cardiff, Christine and the Queens about Angels in America, and more.

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c. 2022-2023
Creative Director
Program Director
Director
Editor
Animator
Sound Designer
Colorist

Associate Director: Carrie Courogen
Producer:
Margeaux Labat
🎨

Over/Under, Video Series, Pitchfork

Monthly video series for Pitchfork.

As the Director of Programming, I revived Pitchfork’s classic series Over/Under. It’s a simple idea but a crowd-pleaser. The original series was too Williamsburg hipstery, it always felt like punching down. It also was a little boring. This time around it was a bit quicker, a little more animated, goofier, and more wholesome.

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c. 2022-2023
Creative Director
Program Director
Director

Associate Director: Carrie Courogen
Producer:
Margeaux Labat
⚖️

Björk on Mushrooms, Video, Pitchfork

In addition to the cover video, I pitched this narrative piece to Björk. I was inspired by a storied history of artists interacting with nature and wanted Björk to bring the reader into her mycelial world.

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c. 2022
Creative Director
Editor
Animator
Sound Designer

Photographer:
Vidar Logi
Photo Director: Jennifer Aborn
Art Director: Marina Kozak
Graphic Designer:
Callum Abbott
🍄

Bad Taste Bar & Restaurant, Commercial, Bad Taste

Photographer Marcus McDonald was working on a portfolio project with artist Jen Monroe for her food styling project, Bad Taste. Jen created dishes that were pulled right out of a mid-century cookbook, including olive cake and pea pie. Marcus decided to hire Jake Moore to shoot footage of the dishes and needed someone to take the ungraded, 4K footage and turn it into an old-school commercial.

I took inspiration from local restaurant ads, which heavily feature goofy transitions. Then I animated custom graphics and degraded them with layers of effects. Lastly, I sourced the music from a 70’s grocery soundtrack. The result is something you’d find on an old VHS recording of the 1985 Super Bowl.

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c. 2023
Editor
Animator
Sound Designer

Director:
Marcus McDonald
Food Styling:
Jen Monroe
DP:
Jake Moore
Set Design:
Lisa Saeboe
Color Correction:
Tam Le
🎂

Behind the ‘21 Hollywood Issue, Video, Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair hired with the amazing duo Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari of Toiletpaper Magazine to make their annual Hollywood Portfolio. The only challenge was the world was still shut down and it wasn’t safe yet to shoot in person. So they decided to do everything remotely, with photo shoots in LA, New York, Atlanta, Ghana, and Australia directed over Zoom.

I was tasked with taking all the remote footage to somehow put together a Behind the Scenes video. It’s hard to go behind the scenes of something that was shot solely through video chats, so I decided to play into the computer-based visuals by having the interactions play out on a desktop.

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c. 2021

Editor
Animator
Graphic Designer
Sound Designer

Portfolio:
Maurizio Cattelan Pierpaolo Ferrari
Stylist:
Katie Grand
Art Director:
Micol Talso
Casting:
Britt Hennemuth 
🏄🏾‍♂️

Digital Covers, Condé Nast

As a visuals editor, I created digital covers and article openers across Condé Nast brands.

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c. 2019-2022
Editor
Graphic Designer
Animator

GQ Creative Dir.:
Robert Vargas
GQ Design Dir.:
Keir Novesky
Vanity Fair CD:
Kira Pollack
Vanity Fair AD:
Tara Johnson

Vogue CD:
Raul Martinez
📔

Best of the 2010s, Editorial Package, Pitchfork

Pitchfork’s designer Drew Litowitz developed the visual language for this project, using the UX design of the platforms on which we experienced music in the 2010s. He mocked up the stills and I brought the motion, creating looping animations for the two featured lists and the many articles from the package.

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c. 2019
Graphic Designer
Animator

Creative Director:
Robert Vargas
Designer:
Drew Litowitz
Editor-in-Chief: Puja Patel
🤳🏾

CONVERSE X TOYA HORIUCHI, Ad, Converse

Advertisement for new Converse Skateboard loafers by New York based artist Toya Horiuchi.

Toya is an incredibly talented artist and designer. He moved from Tokyo to New York City ten years ago, and his paintings and clothing designs are inspired by symbols and icons of the Big Apple. So when he approached me to make a commercial, I knew that it should exude the vibes of NYC.

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c. 2022
Creative Director
Director
Producer
Editor
Dir. of Photography
Colorist

Camera Operator: Forrest Almasi
Photographer: Patrick Woodling
Production Asst:
Efrat Kashi
👞

ICECREAM U.S SPRING 2022, Ad, Billionaire Boys Club

Advertisement for the 2022 Spring/Summer collection from BBC’s skate brand Ice Cream.

Billionaire Boys Club wanted to make a playful commercial in which models and skaters appeared as sticker-like objects on a white background. The footage I received was all shot on a green screen, so I used After Effects to key out the models and arranged them in fun ways, editing the the beat of the classic Pharrell song. I also treated the graphics with a custom CRT technique I’ve been developing.  

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c. 2022-2023
Editor
Animator
Colorist


Creative Director:
Joseph Au
Art Director:
Martha Zakarya
Video Director:
Nolan Zangas

🛹


May Rio’s “Need Your Like”, Music Video

Lena Greene and I co-created the music video for the lead single off of May Rio’s French Bath. Lena came up with the initial idea for the video and brought me in to develop the storyboard. We both have a background in animation so we wanted to make the video feel magical.

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c. 2022
Co-Director
Co-Producer
Editor
Animator
Colorist

Co-Director:
Lena Greene
Dir of Photography:
Carmen Hilbert
Makeup:
Caroline Mills
🧟‍♀️

Je Te Rencontre, Ad, Easy Go Athletics

A commercial for a new hat by EasyGo, a New York-based clothing company known for its high-quality socks.  I took inspiration from Chris Marker’s La Jetée, utilizing still frames from an old digital camera.

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c. 2022
Director
Producer
Editor
Colorist

Creative Director:
James West
Model: Big Love Bobby
🧦


Park Slope Food Co-op, Short Doc, New Yorker

Short documentary about a co-operative grocery store in Brooklyn for The New Yorker. This video was made to promote a New Yorker article by writer Alexandra Schwartz. We used Schwartz’s reporting to build out an outline and went to the store to chat with members about the community, rules, and atmosphere of the store.

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c. 2019
Director
Dir. of Photography
Editor
Animator

Social Media Director:
Karen Quinn
Social Media Editor:
Julia Bush
Writer:
Alexandra Schwartz

🍇