As we look forward to a less restricted summer ( particularly in the UK ), where in-person video production should be more practical - we want to share a series of projects that we have worked on over the last year and some of the thinking that has come out of this unusual time..
The first of these was a departure from the traditional video work and the use of animation and illustration.
At the end of last summer we were asked to create social media content to celebrate Lewis Hamilton’s 7th World Championship title. This was an amazing accomplishment, particularly for an athlete with a distinctly different background to a lot of his peers in the sport and required an eye catching visual to stand out from the crowd.
Initially the client had looked at using a photo montage ( similar to other media outlet coverage ) as there seemed little point in re-cutting F1 video footage - this would be covered extensively by the broadcast and could end up lost in the noise of the event.
Considering this was such a huge career achievement, we took it as a unique opportunity to experiment with a different approach - illustration and animation.
As the artwork would be hand-created we could solidify a more consistent brand story through the individual images than would be possible with historical photo or video material. It was also easier to compress a lengthy career into key illustrations, highlighting an athletes accomplishments with a stylisation that shared the brands messaging and attitude.
After following the season over the summer it was pretty obvious Lewis would get the 7th title, the question was when.. (!?) We planned to complete the work in time for the earliest time he could possibly get the title ( based on the standings at the time of briefing ) but knowing we may have up to two additional weeks to tweak artwork if this initial projection was missed.
With this in mind we set about picking out key career moments, with a tilt towards his move to Mercedes AMG and the relationship with the client brand.
Working with illustrations allowed us to give the client more visibility in the final video through key colour highlights, while showcasing parts of the drivers early career that may be poorly represented in image archives. The painterly style allowed us to impress a 'storybook' feel to the narrative - further emphasising an almost fairytale approach to the visual.
The illustrations were painted in watercolour on paper by hand as individual elements before being worked on further in Procreate on an iPad Pro to make layered 6K resolution .PSD files. These images were painted as 'open matte' with a large amount of space around the action in the composition to allow for reframing in both 16 x 9 and 4 x 5 for social media delivery.
Finally the various elements were animated in Adobe AfterEffects to create motion and flow to a licensed music track. The key brand colours tied the compositions together from image to image and provided some additional energy to the static artwork.
The most experimental part of the project came in the animation stage, where various styles and techniques were thrown around for blending the final frames together before the aggressive, paint splash style was decided upon. We looked at a more watercolour look in the early stages but it just didn't fit with the brand aesthetic or the chosen music.
Briefing a project like this is not dissimilar to preparing for a production, it requires ideating with a client, creating storyboards and a rough outline before proceeding with final artwork. Possibly the only extra consideration is in the commissioning of artwork, as there can be considerable time and labour in preparing illustrations and changing a whole painting close to a deadline can risk delivery dates.
Illustration and animation are powerful tools for brands, particularly in a pandemic where movement can be limited and production scheduling subject to restrictions. Across our client list of corporate, government-adjacent and commercial customers we have used illustration in almost a third of our work in the last year - mixing it with video or letting it stand alone as a different approach to sharing visual ideas.
We don't see this stopping anytime soon and in anticipation and have already been experimenting with tools like Blender and Greasepencil to extend the animation and illustration toolbox at our disposal.