“We worked with 2 real-life examples of investment and success and transformed them into a mini-series of compelling and memorable short videos”, explains Guille Comín, Device director. The short videos follow Thomas Edison and Amelia Earhart, as their discoveries and invention change the world, using perspective shifts and seamless, consistent structures to help their message come across.

We approached the project focusing on an immersive, relatable visual experience that, in turn, supported the narrative structure. We wanted to represent these iconic stories of success and commitment in a way that was true to fact – to offer a real, almost tangible depiction of these examples, that could transcend their visual, digital look and elevate their message. And what better way to do that than through a digital diorama? We all love looking at these miniature worlds, capturing reality in such vivid detail and, fortunately, our brief contained just that. They spark feelings of affection and manage to transport us into a unique world where we can witness something magical about to happen: like the discovery of the light bulb or the first flight across the Atlantic. We wanted to plant a camera into these tiny worlds and explore them, zooming in and out to discover their enchanting, realistic details.

Our aesthetic direction focused on a type of approachable realism: our “animated model” concept blends a good deal of realism with a touch of charming imperfections to render the characters more relatable and create a connection with the audience. Figures in a scale model can have some of their fingers seemingly stuck together, or stiff clothing, but this only adds to their lasting charm and personality. In fact, our character design explorations aimed for a recognizable figure, with realistic proportions and shapes, able to convey emotions and get closer to the viewer.

As far as our graphic display goes, we wanted to represent the diorama on the surface of a cyclorama, allowing it to grow from it, to live there, and to feel as real as possible. Leaving part of the landscape slightly outside the diorama spatial limits also allowed us to facilitate its integration and not restrict it to a platform. From a technical point of view, we used a photo-realistic 3D rendering to simulate and closely resemble real dioramas. Our goal was to achieve an authentic finish, almost like they were handcrafted miniatures – this way the audience could feel like they’re actually looking at a real model and be closer to the tiny world it represents. 

In order to highlight the realism of these scenes and convey the image of a meticulously crafted model, we used a low frame rate technique, emulating the stop-motion style. We also added photorealistic lighting and played with the rigid, limited movements of our characters, to make them look and act just like real-life miniature figures.

While the 3D technique allowed us to construct and animate each piece in an immersive manner, the camera rotations and space movements captured the dioramas in a captivating way. The music also played a very important role: we wanted it to have elements of magic, adventure, and emotion, but to also to convey the aspirational and epic feeling associated with each milestone. The sound design was to enhance the videos and add another layer to the story, to be close to the events and represent them, in a musical way.  The style we opted for was classical with a modern touch, reminiscent of Alexandre Desplat’s compositions for Wes Anderson films.

The narrative structure follows our two stories in a real space, with a single camera movement that closes on the logo. They’re short, concise, and endearing, sharing a similar structure that allows the key message to stand out. They all start with an introduction, followed by the presentation of the challenge, the development, and, finally, the solution obtained after all the hard work and personal investment.

Edison

We played with proportions to showcase how something as huge as the discovery of the light bulb started so small, in the minute, thorough work of one man in his laboratory.  The video runs without cuts, going seamlessly from the logo opening to the very last frame, from sunset to sunrise on the following day. We animated the characters in a stop-motion style to enhance the concept of the scale model and played with the light, as we see our characters moving against it, almost like Chinese shadows. We also used a blue background as our sky and employed camera movements to guide the viewer’s attention. 

Amelia

We started this story with a wider perspective: it all begins several “miles” back, with Amelia Earhart’s plane entering the frame and flying through the clouds towards the Northern Ireland coast. Starting from there, the camera moves with the plane as the landscape approaches and we finally land into the warm welcome Amelia receives in Ireland. We took advantage of the change in the landscape to work with the various scales and create this perspective play that gradually takes us from a bird’s eye view, closer to the land. Just like in the previous video, we animated the whole story without any cuts and all the elements coexist in the scene, from the initial logo to the closing scene.

By combining all these narrative, technical and creative elements, we managed to breathe life into three different tiny worlds, each unique, all with one thing in common: a big idea turned into reality.