North Kingdom

We started off with getting down the whole story and develop the concept. We spent a lot of time together with Saatchi & Saatchi in finalizing the script to get it interesting and humorous with the right touch. The core idea was to have the new features of the car presented by a host on some kind of stage. And the visual style was set in early 1960´s.

— STORYBOARDS

We had to storyboard a lot to get an overview of the flow. That was necessary to be sure we will get all the material we need on the actual shoot. Time was really short so we had to be super effective.

The illustrations we got from Saatchi & Saatchi was supposed to work as backgrounds for the different scenes. The idea was to translate them into 3D but keep much of the original shapes. We used them as a starting point and had to figure out how to make them alive and bring depth to them. We decided to have a rotating stage where the different environments were placed onto. Similar to an old theatre where the props is used to create the illusion of an entire world. We wanted this world to fit into a “flat” frame to make it a bit more magic and playful.

— ANIMATICS

We did several animatics of the scenes with the rotating stage and the props. This was really useful to get a better overview of the story, timing and interactions before the film shoot.

— FILM SHOOT IN LA

All live action video was shot in LA. Director Ted Kjellson goes through the script with the “host”, an actor called Freddie.

The “hostess” sitting in the “car”:) So this was what we had on the shoot. All other parts of the car had to be extended in 3D.

Freddie rehearses the hat-throwing in front of the car.

The Toyota Avalon outside studio. A special body made for filmshoots.

— DESIGN PROCESS

Moodboard and inspiration for the stage and props. We wanted the stage to fit the early 1960´s style but still feel modern. The props should feel like they were made of wood and nicely painted.

Early 3D test of the rotating scene and how the props should be placed into the magic frame.

Style reference of 3D props on stage.

Reference for the stage. Crazy car! Not the Avalon :) We made those references as a start for our postproduction partner Stopp. They continued the 3D work for each scene.

Stopp started to work with the background illustrations. Translating them into 3D.

Perspective and depth. Working with the overall composition. Putting the pieces on different layers and make them feel like props standing on stage.

Adding lights and shadows.

Putting in separate light spots for the car and host.

Part of the process for the “Miami scene”. We were really keen about getting depth, great composition and nice perspective to the scene. We also wanted the props to feel a bit handmade and not so “3D”. The last changes was much about color tweaks to get it more “Miami like”.

Stopp made “bodydoubles” in 3D for the hosts to be sure about getting the right proportions and perspective. Part of the process for the “hostess”.

1. Miami scene – before

A big challenge was to get all the feature information/facts into the scenes without being to heavy and boring. There is often loads of text explaining different features and they are usally a bit technical. We had to reduce the scentences, be pedagogical and clear to fit all the information in this kind of experience. We wanted a nice flow with readable information that didn´t demand the user to pause the experience. We explored different types of infographics and animations and tried to find a style that fitted the era.

2. Miami scene – after

1. Hollywood scene – before

2. Hollywood scene – after

The navigation menu was a central piece in this project and we wanted it to be classy as the rest of the site. To give it some smooth animation was a nice way to get the exclusive feeling. We tried out different designs of the menu where we could play with animation and style.

1. Early mockup 01

2. Early mockup 02

3. Mockup 03

The menu ended up something like this. Like a pamphlet that is a bit similar to a restaurant menu.