Adobe x Billie Eilish
Synesthesia
Client: Adobe
Design, Direction, Animation, Composite
This was one of 2 spots for an amazing Adobe campaign we helped the team at Pereira & O'dell bring to life. Billie has synesthesia, a condition where she sees colors, shapes, numbers and smells when she is stimulated by music. With design, illustration and animation we helped her, adobe and the agency visualize what this will look like in both animation, and a layered photoshop file fans could download.
Storyboards & Sketches
The first step was sketching out what such an unusual story she was explaining could look like. Going from shapes, to numbers to smells was an unusual thing to try and film which made an animated approach a neat solve. But because she talks pretty quickly, a more fluid cel animation approach which happens to be one of our favorites felt like a bold and tonally matching solution.
Design
Our design team took a first pass at what this would look like. The bold colorful palette and fluid shapes with an illustrative tone that felt somehow sophisticated too felt really right on. Billie felt like we were a bit too psychedelic though in parts but the story was there.
Based on the first pass of design, there was a desire for a more angular and even graphic take on where were were at to add a slightly more serious tone to the look. Focusing on a simpler color palette also really started to add some drama to the feeling of each scene we were all liking.
It was a small thing, but the designs were feeling a little too 'Saul Bass' like from the clients perspective. To us that meant a bit too clean. To add a bit more of a pop culture element back into it that would help energize the animation, we also explored adding a lot more color. For the streamers for instance it made sense conceptually. For renderings of Billie herself, the neon green has become such a part of her brand, it felt like the right choice as well.
Motion Tests & Animation
Working with our longtime collaborators, Rudo in Argentina, we did what we always do. through a series of boardomatics & rough animations, together, we evolved both the story and the animations iteration after iteration until it felt just right both in look, flow, and narrative.
Poster Art
Supplementing the commercial, and based entirely on where we got to with the look of it, was layered downloadable photoshop files fans could open up and learn how it was made. These were two variations of those.
