For KNGF’s 2nd “The world of…”-campaign we’ve worked together with Selmore to highlight the story of Roland
He's a retired riot police officer that tries to leave a rough past behind and be a dependable dad, but can’t. Not without the help of his assistant dog Noury.
A loyal buddy, friend to kids, and savior for when it’s needed most. KNGF’s assistance dogs can be all of those and we feel very proud to have been able to help contribute to this wonderful cause.
Let us guide you into his internal world and feel through animation the real difference an assistance dog can make.
Agency
Brand
Telling the story of Roland
We had to find a way to communicate the unreal difference in scenario’s with only a few frames to spare. Exploring, until you feel confident in what will communicate is essential to make a transition like that feel believable.
Color studies played a key role in communicating the longing atmosphere turning foul. We felt contrasting the warm inviting yellow haze of a bright overcast day by a deep dark smoke-filled atmosphere lit by threatening hotspot-heavy flares were the right ambiance that would communicate the difference between Roland’s worlds.
Design and Development
Concept Art & Character Design
With concepting we had to find a way for the audience to connect the dots between the two worlds. We had to make the hooligans grown-up versions of the kids. By giving them very similar clothing and hairstyles this transition would feel right and the characters would stay recognizable. Children’s clothing on grown men adds a layer of subtle visual comedy, which was a great way to make the topic more approachable for television.
With the character design of Roland, we wanted him to feel like a loving dad as well as a tough ex-police officer that would be able to kick some hooligan butt if soccer was in season again. Only a retired one, with a now manageable trauma.
“Transforming to a harsh world”
Reflecting the trauma of Roland through a visual style did offer quite a challenge for us. We had to do justice to a very harsh and unpleasant world that is keeping Ronald on edge. We do this through the use of ‘smoke’ emitted from flares, typically seen during sports matches. This, at the same time, transforms the, at first, tranquil scene into a fearful warzone.
To visually communicate Roland’s inner world respectively, we did our best to utilize bold and rough graphical shapes and much more aggressive textures than we used in the other films. To artistically and technically pull off such a rough style in 3D cleanly, an enriching R&D study was required.
Because of the meticulous technical control our Houdini artists have pulled off, we were able to manipulate chaotic moving 3D shapes and make them appear as if they were flat pieces of paper. Our artist could then go all out and cleanly ‘paint’ on top of those without any limits. It resulted in a way of utilizing the raw expressiveness of 2D design to really capture this fearful world in the grounded space of stylized 3D.