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, writer, music critic, birdwatcher, and friend living in Manhattan.
I hold a masters degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
I’ve made editorial video for publications including The New York Times, Vogue, GQ, and Vanity Fair. I’ve made commercial work for Ford, McDonalds, and Sony Music. From 2020 to 2021 I hosted Diversity Hire, a podcast about being “POC” in media.
You can email me at arjunrsri@gmail.com
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Moodboard, Video Series, Pitchfork
Monthly video series for Pitchfork’s YouTube and 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.
See morec. 2022-2023
Creative Director
Program Director
Director
Editor
Animator
Sound Designer
Colorist
Associate Director: Carrie Courogen
Producer:
Margeaux Labat
🎨
Björk on Mushrooms, Video, Pitchfork
A narrative video detailing the inspiration for Björk’s 2022 album, Fossora.
I was inspired by a storied history of artists interacting with nature and wanted Björk to bring the reader into her mycelial world. I pitched the concept to Björk and her collaborator Vidar Logi. They were stoked!
See morec. 2022
Creative Director
Editor
Animator
Sound Designer
Photographer:
Vidar Logi
Photo Director: Jennifer Aborn
Art Director: Marina Kozak
Graphic Designer:
Callum Abbott
🍄
Behind the ‘21 Hollywood Issue, Video, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair commissioned the amazing duo Maurizio Cattelan & Pierpaolo Ferrari of Toiletpaper Magazine to direct 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, NYC, Atlanta, Ghana, and Australia, all directed over Zoom.
I was tasked with somehow turning the remote footage to into 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.
See morec. 2021
Editor
Animator
Graphic Designer
Sound Designer
Portfolio:
Maurizio Cattelan Pierpaolo Ferrari
Stylist:
Katie Grand
Art Director:
Micol Talso
Casting:
Britt Hennemuth
🏄🏾♂️
CONVERSE X TOYA HORIUCHI, Commercial, 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.
See morec. 2022
Creative Director
Director
Producer
Editor
Dir. of Photography
Colorist
Camera Operator: Forrest Almasi
Photographer: Patrick Woodling
Production Asst:
Efrat Kashi
👞
Detroit Never Left, Commercial, Ford
Animated collages for Ford.
Ford’s new campaign centers around the city of Detroit and the renovation of The New Michigan Central Station. Weiden+Kennedy hired me to bring more energy to archival footage through animation and effects. I used a few of my bespoke effects, including some handcut stop motion animations.
See morec. 2024
Animator
Producer:
Maliyamungu Muhande
Creative Director:
Xander Opiyo
🚙
Digital Covers, Condé Nast
As a visuals editor, I created digital covers and article openers across Condé Nast brands.
See morec. 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
📔
McD X JUJUTSU KAISEN, Billboard, McDonalds
Billboard in Times Square of McDonalds.
McDonalds wanted to drop a hint about their new collaboration with the manga series Jujutsu Kaisen. Weiden+Kennedy asked me to create a glitch transition that placed the golden arches within the iconography of the show. I’m lovin’ it!
See morec. 2024
Animator
Producer:
Maliyamungu Muhande
Art Director:
Mike Devine
🍔
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.
See morec. 2022-2023
Creative Director
Program Director
Director
Associate Director: Carrie Courogen
Producer:
Margeaux Labat
⚖️
Bad Taste Bar & Restaurant, Commercial, Bad Taste
Photographer Marcus McDonald was working on a portfolio food stylist Jen Monroe. 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.
See morec. 2023
Editor
Animator
Sound Designer
Director:
Marcus McDonald
Food Styling:
Jen Monroe
DP:
Jake Moore
Set Design:
Lisa Saeboe
Color Correction:
Tam Le
🎂
Shop Talk, Video Series, Pitchfork
During a holiday party, Pitchfork associate editor and all-around sweetheart Sam Sodomsky approached me and said he wanted to create a video series in which he’s the Guy Fieri of record stores. With a longline like that, who needs a pitch deck!
See morec. 2023
Creative Director
Director
Editor
Animator
Host:
Sam Sodomsky
Producer:
Margeaux Labat
💿
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.
See morec. 2019
Director
Dir. of Photography
Editor
Animator
Social Media Director:
Karen Quinn
Social Media Editor:
Julia Bush
Writer:
Alexandra Schwartz
🍇
@mynytimes, Social Media Accounts, The New York Times
MyNYTimes is a social initiative led by the marketing department at The New York Times. On TikTok and Instagram, the account features a behind-the-scenes look at how New York Times employees produce their work, from crossword constructors to music critics, restaurant reviews to investigative reporters. The idea is to show that The New York Times isn’t some monolithic news voice, that there are a diverse range of people who make the Times work.
I was initially hired by Tessa Modi to shoot, edit, and animate videos for channels 3 days a week. I quickly became engrained into the team, introducing a new, fun, approachable video style to the account. A couple months into the job, Tessa told me she was pregnant and that I should fill in for her while she was on maternity leave. I became the Interim Director for Social in the Marketing team for The New York Times. I’ve honed the voice and visual language of the account, managed a team of three, strategized coverage of events, developed content for brand campaigns, and worked with the audience insights team to grow our accounts.
Our next big project is videos showing how The New York Times covers the election. Wish me luck!
See morec. 2024
Team Leader
Director
Producer
Editor
Animator
Graphic Designer
Sound Designer
VP of Creative: Laura Forde
Director of Social:
Tessa Modi
Producer/Editor: Tandis Shoushtary
Assistant Creative: Sabrina Bernstein
Shooter/Editor: Zachary Taylor
📰
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.
See morec. 2019
Graphic Designer
Animator
Creative Director:
Robert Vargas
Designer:
Drew Litowitz
Editor-in-Chief: Puja Patel
🤳🏾
Spring Specials Menu, Commercial, Blank Street
Advertisement for Blank Street’s 2024 Spring Menu.
I was asked to created an iPhone narrative to announce Blank Street’s new drinks. The story is completely contained in iOS UI, including Instagram DM, Camera app, Messages group chat, and Google Chrome. However, I added a few exaggerated moments to make it feel less like you’re just watching someone on their phone.
The whole ad has this goofy, chaotic energy. I wanted it to feel like you’ve been drinking a strong matcha and can’t wait to tell the world. The UI design was all recreated within After Effects, adding the typeface, padding and shapes used by the brand’s campaign.
See morec. 2024
Editor
Animator
Sound Designer
Creative Director: Mohammad Rabaa
Associate Designer:
Coco Lashar
Photographer:
Marcus McDonald
🍵
Lifers Groove’s “Drapetomania,”
Music Video
Freer Records (fka Die Jim Crow) is a music label and platform for prison-impacted musicians. For over a decade, Freer has released music by currently and formerly incarcerated artists, upholding their humanity and spreading a message of resiliance.
Lifers Groove is a supergroup of the label’s artists, and for their first single I directed and edited a music video to tell their stories.
See morec. 2023
Creative Director
Director
Editor
Animator
Executive Director:
Fury Young
Deputy Director:
BL Shirelle
✊🏾
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.
See morec. 2022
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.
See morec. 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.
See morec. 2022
Director
Producer
Editor
Colorist
Creative Director:
James West
Model: Big Love Bobby
🧦