Puzzles, drawings, chalkboard... this stuff helps us go back in time to our childhood. It can be associated with happy times, toys and friends... but not for everybody. Who can help them overcome their fears and anxiety? Adults can.
When we started thinking about the creative concept we realized that focusing on the best way of communication with kids is key. The message needed to be in line with kids’ perspective and the way they look at the world. We tried to recall what themes can be commonly associated with childhood. Of course, toys came to our mind in an instant! That’s why the video begins with a theme of a tower made of toys.
Moreover, it’s definitely a time of our life when we draw a lot and learn how to write. For that reason, some graphics have been hand-drawn and from time to time, as the story progresses, we can see hands drawing the visuals. That reminiscing took us back in time to primary school where we had been making a lot of handmade stuff like cards for family members, Christmas decorations, photo books and… cutouts.
It guided us towards the idea of using - in some scenes - paper dolls instead of real characters. Throughout the video also other things popular among children appear. Like puzzles, chalkboard, notebook drawings or diary.
While working on the styleframes our point of reference was creating a style that universally appeals to all kids – male and female - across many different social and racial demographics. For that reason we’ve explored a more abstract, less literal approach. The skin colours are unique and don’t resemble the real ones. We created also simplified silhouette-ish style for the characters. Because the emotional tone of this piece should be uplifting and encouraging we created the pastel colour palette.
Our team decided to use paper dolls and depict various emotions with different background colours. With this, we could show ‘not perfect’ relations of kids with other children and parents without showing violence. Another challenge was to explore a sophisticated visual style and avoid depicting only one type of child. That’s why the characters have unique skin colours and simplified silhouettes.
Client: Nickelodeon
Agency: MotionLab
Animation studio: BluBlu Studios
Creative Direction: Monika Kurek, Luke Heise
Storyboard: Monika Kurek, Weronika Harla, Maciek Kachel, Natalia Krajewska
Concept Design: Jagoda Klaczyńska, Ewa Baran
Animation & Illustration: Miłosz Kokociński, Michał Machowina, Jagoda Kaleta, Karolina Specht, Jagoda Klaczyńska, Ewa Baran, Weronika Harla, Maciej Kachel, Natalia Krajewska, Karol Rządczyk
Agency: MotionLab
Animation studio: BluBlu Studios
Creative Direction: Monika Kurek, Luke Heise
Storyboard: Monika Kurek, Weronika Harla, Maciek Kachel, Natalia Krajewska
Concept Design: Jagoda Klaczyńska, Ewa Baran
Animation & Illustration: Miłosz Kokociński, Michał Machowina, Jagoda Kaleta, Karolina Specht, Jagoda Klaczyńska, Ewa Baran, Weronika Harla, Maciej Kachel, Natalia Krajewska, Karol Rządczyk
