Chateau Ste. Michelle
Summer 2020 Campaign: "Chateau Wherever You Go"
We were invited to develop a series of three animated TV spots to help the well-known West coast wine company to expand upon the visual aesthetic and personality of the brand for their very of-the-times Summer 2020 campaign to raise awareness and excitement around their new single-serving aluminium bottle products and get them in peoples shopping carts this Summer.
As we received the scripts we were immediately excited: they were current, yet lighthearted and with such clever humour and surprising reveals. It was an absolute yes from the whole team as we were eager to collaborate with the Team One gang and breathe life into the concept.
One of the main challenges of these spots was to integrate the photos of the aluminium bottles into the animation, especially in the transition to the bottle in the end. The characters who inhabit the land behind the mountain on the new product labels that will reveal in a zoom-out-spin at the end. For this, we shot a 360˚ of the three bottles to then seamlessly integrate into the animation.
Over the years we’ve developed a lot of love and skills in this line art style. The clean and minimal look works great in animation and is seamless when integrating photorealistic products into the animated world. The style developed specifically for these spots is clean, yet stylised. A bit feminine, a bit flirty and cheeky, but at the same time current and mature.
" Sandbox "
Below are some explorations on how the world of Chateau Ste. Michell was to come alive in illustration and animation. The characters who inhabit the land behind the mountain on the new product labels, and how we would work in relatable and humorous personality throughout, using subtle details and elements in both the characters and scenarios to bring it all to life.
The humour and surprise reveal throughout each spot are key to the stories and we were very careful with the framing, timings, and pauses to get the best reaction from these spots.
At the pitch stage, we also presented some options using a bit of colour on the characters and some complementary elements, matching the palette to each of the bottles on the films. It was definitely a nice option but in the end, we went full black & white.
" Glamping "
" Riviera "
There was no 3D involved in these ones! We shot 100 frames of a 360˚ spin of each of the aluminium bottles to then seamlessly integrate into the animation, especially in the transition at the end of each spot.
The decision to ensure the characters were not cartoony or overly exaggerated and that the environment was fairly true to form and not mystical or imaginative was purposefully made so that the style felt “grown-up” and sophisticated, and not appealing to children at all, given the subject matter. And much care and development was given to the last of characters to represent a diverse, modern consumer.
This one below was a very early exploration of a very different style, more indie-looking. Definitely a cool style and something we'd like to explore more!
Credits:
Client: Chateau Ste. Michelle
Agency: Team One
Production Company: Jelly London
Agency: Team One
Production Company: Jelly London
Directed by Niceshit
Creative Directors: Carmen Angelillo, Guido Lambertini & Rodier Kidmann
Art Director: Rodier Kidmann
Animation Directors: Carmen Angelillo & Guido Lambertini
Executive Producer: Agusta Timotea
Animation & Cleanup: Erik Righetti, Leo Campasso, Ezequiel Cruz, Ana Freitas, Carmen Angelillo & Guido Lambertini
Creative Directors: Carmen Angelillo, Guido Lambertini & Rodier Kidmann
Art Director: Rodier Kidmann
Animation Directors: Carmen Angelillo & Guido Lambertini
Executive Producer: Agusta Timotea
Animation & Cleanup: Erik Righetti, Leo Campasso, Ezequiel Cruz, Ana Freitas, Carmen Angelillo & Guido Lambertini
Niceshit ® 2020
