Some design work

These are just a couple of drawings I've done to get a feel for the aesthetic I'm aiming for. They're just in pencil for the moment, but I may redraw them in pen, and will likely colour them in photoshop.

Squirrels

I took some time out of my schedule today to visit the park to observe some squirrels. I'm strongly leaning towards the squirrel ad idea, and if I pursue that idea, it's important to me that the character moves like a real squirrel.

I got a lot of reference photos and videos, and did some life drawing while I was there. I will put some of my reference here in this post.

My Ideas

I used my research with viral marketing to determine the best approach with the advertising campaign. As with the most successful viral advertisements, these ads all open on something seemingly unrelated to the car, which is then shown to portray a message and advertise the product. In all three storyboards, the Seat Mii features quite dominantly, and the message is carried across that it is an environmentally friendly car. There are no voice overs or overly obvious attempts to push the product on people, just a simple message and reveal of the project.

Of the three storyboards, I am most happy with the third. I feel the first two may be too simple, and thus may come across as quite boring. The use of the squirrel gives the viewers a character to watch and be drawn in by, while still being quite simplistic and not adding too much fluff to the message.

Storyboard Idea 3

This is my third storyboard idea.

This version of the advertisement opens with a shot of an acorn on the roof of the Mii. A squirrel enters from the left of the screen and proceeds to sit by the acorn and pick it up. The camera cuts to a closer shot of the squirrel holding the acorn, and the squirrels eyes dart towards the camera. The music begins at this point. The camera cuts back to its original position as the squirrel turns to flee. The camera follows the squirrel as he runs to the back of the car and leaps. As the camera pans across, we see a tree trunk that the squirrel lands clutching. The camera follows the squirrel as he scampers back up the tree and out onto a branch. Once settled on the branch, the squirrel starts to nibble at his acorn as the camera pans in towards him. The camera then cuts to a more zoomed out shot of his section of the tree, then a shot of a larger portion of the tree, then a shot of the tree in its entirety, which as before is growing out of the exhaust pipe of the Mii. Finally, the camera cuts to a shot of the Mii itself before fading to black.

Storyboard Idea 2

This is my second board idea.

This scene opens on a branch of the tree, where one of the leaves is blowing back and forth in the wind. The leaf breaks free of the branch and begins to drift away in the breeze. The camera cuts to a closer shot of the leaf and follows it out past the trunk of the tree. As the leaf reaches the peak of its arch, the camera cuts to a more zoomed out shot of the leaf and follows it back to the trunk, where the leaf circles the trunk, getting lower as it does so. The leaf makes one more wide arch upwards before gently swaying down to rest on a bright surface. The camera zooms out to show that the leaf has landed on the Mii, and continues to pan outwards to show that the tree it fell from is growing from the car itself.

Storyboard Idea 1

This is my first storyboard idea.

In this first draft, the camera starts above the tree, and pans downwards through the tree to the trunk as music plays. The camera continues to pan down the trunk of the tree, and makes a round turn at the bend in the trunk. It is revealed that the tree is growing from the exhaust pipe of the Mii, and the camera stops panning when the exhaust pipe is almost in the centre of the screen. The camera then zooms out from the exhaust pipe to reveal the whole of the car and the tree. The scene fades to black, then a Seat logo fades in before it finally fades to black again.

Concept Art

I've decided to stick with the idea of showing the environmental message by using the image of a tree growing out of the car. As such, I have drawn a few images to see which idea works best visually.

Personally, I like the idea of the tree growing from the exhaust pipe, as it makes a very distinct connection between the emissions from the car and growth within the environment.

Concept for project

At the moment, the idea I have is to have the ad start on a shot of leaves, and for the camera to follow the trail of the leaves to the exhaust of the Mii, where it will then cut to show the car with a tree or other fauna growing from the exhaust pipe, to show that it is helping the environment instead of harming it a lot.


This piece of music is inspiring me right now, so I'm thinking of using a section of it in the ad, but this could change depending on whether or not it suits the actual animation.

Inspiring Imagery

I have been looking for imagery that inspires me and relates to what I am interested in exploring. This car represents the kind of idea I would like to go for, as it marries off the car with nature in a really visual way.

The Environment

After some research, I've decided I'm quite interested in the environmentally friendly side of Seat's new car, the Mii. It is very important to minimise our carbon footprints, and I think a lot of younger people are realising this now, which means that focusing on the environmental aspects of the Mii might be a good way to capture the attention of the target audience.