IDEA Academy
IDEA Academy is an Italian teaching centre aimed at turning students into professional digital and concept artists.
We had the pleasure to work on their students recruitment video and to feel adventurous with them!
Grab a torch, put your lucky hat on, be brave and brace yourself, we’re taking you into a wild world, where a temple and its monkeys will welcome you.
First we tested the overall look and feel of the project on two different illustrations and we opted for a minimalistic style, with limbo backgrounds and graphical objects.
Then we worked more on motion design and we chose to go towards the world of concept art, adding more vibrant, bright colors.
The first step was our main character Ruby, a young artist at the beginning of her career, lost in the jungle of digital art.
Then we worked more on motion design and we chose to go towards the world of concept art, adding more vibrant, bright colors.
The first step was our main character Ruby, a young artist at the beginning of her career, lost in the jungle of digital art.
Character R&D
Once we got the characters, our main focus was how to make them interact.
The teachers were meant to be real mentors, leading the students on the right path inside the magic temple and making them experiment on real productions throughout their schooling.
Keyword: variety. In order to highlight the internationality of IDEA Academy, with their students from all over the world, we started creating a crew made up of funny kind giants, frightened twins and peculiar folks in neon ponchos.
The teachers were meant to be real mentors, leading the students on the right path inside the magic temple and making them experiment on real productions throughout their schooling.
Keyword: variety. In order to highlight the internationality of IDEA Academy, with their students from all over the world, we started creating a crew made up of funny kind giants, frightened twins and peculiar folks in neon ponchos.
Initial Storyboard
We spent a good chunk of the work on the storyboard. Since we were working for a concept art school, we wanted the compositions to fit into the realm of film industry.
Once everything was figured out, we could take it to a colorful, vibrant world, where we invite you to get lost and feel curious.
When you feel alone in the jungle of digital art, here comes IDEA Acadamy, a mystical temple lost in the middle of nowhere, led by happy monkeys and their dark traps.
Don't be scared: it'll be a wonderful experience.
What's more epic than the entrance to a temple? Picture a giant, scary axolotl, the emblem of the school, watching closely everyone who wants to get in and ending up smiling and throwing a welcome party. Weird enough?
Check out the first esplorative styleframes, that went through a serie of reworks and clean ups.
Light it up
The client asked us to try out a more subtle and soft atmosphere, so we played with the lighting, torches and perspectives, in order to create an appealing set, worth of a Mayan temple.
As Ruby enters the temple, we wanted to show her near future at a glance, just like an open day. Easter egg time: can you spot all the traps she will meet later in the story, on the stele?
As Ruby enters the temple, we wanted to show her near future at a glance, just like an open day. Easter egg time: can you spot all the traps she will meet later in the story, on the stele?
Learning the hard way
Studying to become a digital artist has never been easy, everybody knows that.
We designed some traps on the way, just like learning new softwares, embracing new technical skills with a positive attitude could be challenging sometimes.
If in real life pushing a button could delete a file, in the temple stepping in the wrong place could make you fall into the abyss.
This is what Professors TikiTaka think: learning the hard way.
Meet the masters
From zero to hero! Be ready to meet the masters of true productions.
The climax in the narrative leads to the moment when Ruby meets the best professionals in the industry, incredible digital explorers, super skilled folks, who can help her become the big artist she deserves to be.
Look out for the Easter eggs we put on these three!
Look out for the Easter eggs we put on these three!
Road to production
No traps can stop you when a team got your back. One of the coolest scenes of the whole video is the way out from the temple, escaping the giant rolling rock running through a corridor of torchs and lianas (a cliché we couldn’t avoid), towards the happy future of production and real-life challenges.
For this sequence we focused on getting the most cinematic vibe we could.
For this sequence we focused on getting the most cinematic vibe we could.
3D
We brought this adventure into the third dimension too, with different modeled assets, textured and lighted to make them pop.
We wanted to use a mixed media approach and we managed to blend everything thanks to a smooth work of compositing on objects, backgrounds and 2D characters.
Animation
Here you can find some rough animations, our starting point to develop the adventures of Ruby and her crew.
The entire video was animated frame-by-frame shot after shot, in order to be able to work nicely on complex scenes and to include more interaction between the characters.
The entire video was animated frame-by-frame shot after shot, in order to be able to work nicely on complex scenes and to include more interaction between the characters.
Even though we enjoyed getting Ruby in trouble, the overexcited monkeys have a place in our hearts.
Credits
Direction: Rocketpanda
Creative Director: Riccardo Albertini, Filippo Martinelli
Illustration: Federica Amico, Pasquale Garibaldi
Frame by frame Animation: Laura Tomelleri, Riccardo Pagano, Eleonora Giuffrida
Compositing and Animation: Andrea Nobis, Filippo Martinelli, Riccardo Albertini
Illustration: Federica Amico, Pasquale Garibaldi
Frame by frame Animation: Laura Tomelleri, Riccardo Pagano, Eleonora Giuffrida
Compositing and Animation: Andrea Nobis, Filippo Martinelli, Riccardo Albertini
3D: Filippo Martinelli, Paolo Costa
Sound Design: Cristiano De Petrillo
––
Thanks
Thanks
