Technique
CLIENT
Animation studio
Sound Studio
YEAR
We were contacted by Open University in regards to a new research project they were going to launch with the BBC. The commission was to create a 4 minute long educational animation, explaining the brain and memory in a digestible, entertaining and engaging way. The rather complex content focused on storing, retrieving and reconstructing memory in different situations and over time. We were given a full script for VO narration and an outline of the project and concept as well as reference to style of animation. We then created 3 different proposals of complexity for them to choose from and they went with a layered collage animation with added hand drawn elements and motion graphics. The Open University’s brief had a clear overview and specific requirements, but the overall style, texture, colour palette and design was left open for us to develop. We were given a deadline and additional references to understand the concept of the project.
One of the challenges was to accommodate everything within budget and timeline. We had presented different options during the briefing round, containing different amounts of elements and complexity to show what the “animation packages” would cost. Open University chose one package and from there on we developed the different elements.
We were in touch with Patrick in Broadcasting and from the very beginning it was an easy going and kind communication. However, Open University had several people behind the project and we needed confirmation on the progress throughout with different professors to make sure that facts and reality matched the animation and illustrations. Because of the complexity of the subject, there were some very tricky parts in the script that required several meetings to get the visuals and storyline correct. In order to not delay the process, we continued finalising concept, colours, style and VO tests while sorting out the more complex aspects on the side line. Being able to keep developing assets and amending within the timeframe was of essence and the way to do that was creating an open source art direction deck for the client to look at and follow the progress. This way, we could continue working while assets were being reviewed and not slow down the production process.
Open University delivered different references so we had an idea of previous academic work transformed into animation, and we also did research on our side to find ways of simplifying the research without losing information. After the concept proposal our animation director and producer, Josephine, broke down the script which was one long text into scenes. It was paramount that we, during pre-production, nailed the facts and information in the script in order to visualise it, so Josephine had several meetings with the client going through the script breakdown and scenes and then afterwards meetings with the team to start thinking of transitions, camera movements and visuals. We then moved on to storyboarding and had an ongoing communication with The Open University to finalise it before creating style frames. Due to the nature of the content and its fairly complex subject, we decided to spend a good amount of time in pre-production so production and post could run smoothly and save us time. After greenlighting the storyboard, we moved on to do a first draft animatic based on the storyboard while others were developing designs, colours and styleframes, setting the mood, tone and pace. The first draft animatic was sent to our guys at Airtight Studio to start working on VO tests for The Open University to choose from while we had the styleframes approved. Second animatic included coloured styleframes and a finalised duration and pace – this was possible because of the VO tests that, despite being tests managed to set pace and final duration so we could work alongside each other and handle both VO and animation at the same time.
The end stage was doing final recordings of the VO, having Airtight Studio create and mix background music and sound effects while we turned the animatic into a full animation before delivery. We had to deliver a few versions, with and without logos and subtitles. Throughout production, we used Illustrator and Photoshop for storyboarding, designs and collage and then brought the elements into After Effects where we composed everything, adding textures and animating after receiving the stems and final mix from Airtight Studio.
Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects
Open University were extremely happy with the result and workflow, as were we. It was an absolute pleasure working with them throughout and a really cool brief to work from.
Creative Director: Alixe Lobato
Animation Director & Producer: Josephine Amalie von Bülow
Animators: Vanvelvet, Yash Desai
Design: Hannah Vernon
Sound design, VO & Music: Airtight Studio, Alan Lowles & Ant Davey
