BSize
BSize
ROLESCLIENT: BSize
DIRECTOR OF CONTENT: Mack Garrison
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Meryn Hayes
PRODUCER: Ashley Targonski
CREATIVE DIRECTION: Cory Livengood
ART DIRECTION: John McGowan
COPYWRITER: Allan Maule
CONCEPT ART: Meg Snyder, John McGowan, Megan DeMarco
STORYBOARDS: Jake Page
VIDEO PRODUCTION: Red Productions
DIRECTOR: Matthew Rojas
DESIGN: Matea Losenegger, Steph Hallett, Luke Liscom, Bella Alfonsi
ANIMATION: Steph Hallett, Jacob Garcia, Bella Alfonsi, John McGowan, Matea Losenegger, Xenia Galchin, Taylor Cox, Will O'Connell, CGI Nexus
EDITING: Matt Yaple, David Ginn
TALENT: Ivan Jasso, Barbara Laurean, Nadia Gomez, and Brady Barnes
ANIMATION: Meg Snyder, Steph Hallett, Jacob Garcia, Will O'Connell, Xenia Galchin
COLORIST: Alexia Salingaros with Legion Post
AUDIO &MIX: Sanctus
DETAILSBoT Talk is a revolutionary communication device designed to foster secure and seamless interaction between parents and children. It allows kids to have a bit more autonomy and parents to have peace of mind in knowing where their little ones are through accurate gps tracking and automatic notifications for familiar and unfamiliar places. As the number one childrens gps device in Japan, the BSize team needed both a launch video and designs for their 2024 SXSW booth - and dash was happy to help!
DISCOVERYWhile incredibly successful in Japan, kid-focused GPS devices are not as well known in the states which meant we needed to figure out how to portray this story so it was more relatable to American audiences. After some research, we determined the target demographic to be tech-forward parents of four to seven year olds that also had a disposition to be more cautious when it came to raising their kids.
As for the initial look and feel, we thought some animation overlays on top of the footage to highlight a kids imagination would be a great way to bring us into the kids world! Below is a mood board of images the client and dash team pulled together as potential directions.
IDEATIONFor early style frame explorations and character sheets, we played around with what our world should look like and how playful it should be. As a kid-centric piece, we decided the core of the story would be two kids heading off to play with one another as their imaginations came to life and were visualized through an animated lense.
Just how silly the world and creatures should feel was up for debate. Some versions were balanced and minmal while other frames had the animation as a focal point of the piece. We ultimately chose a path that provided a good balance and allowed the animation overlays to really just be an accent to the live-action story.
Final draft of the script.
PRE-PRODUCTIONOnce we had our script and the general direction of our look and feel, the next step was determining the various cinematic shots and how much, or how little, animation we wanted to include on each frame. We had to balance highlighting the device but also bringing audiences into our magical world. Below are a few early storyboard frames that visualize the kids using their BoT Talk device in their illustrative world.
Storyboards show the overarching flow of the story and not only what happens in each scene, but also how scenes transition from one frame to the next. Because this is visualized through rough sketches, it’s easy to make adjustments and alterations before the investment in motion.
Storyboards also provide clarity for navigating ambiguity. By detailing all the shots we need to capture in our live-action shoot, storyboards are the map for production. They ensure all the stakeholders are bought in on the direction and give our director of photography and their team a guiding light to follow that ensures we have enough coverage to craft the story we want to tell. We used purple and green colors to delineate the two families as well as a red outline to highlight moments of animation overlays.
PRE-PRODUCTION cont.
One of the final pre-production elements for any big project like Bsize is to create an animatic and a shot list based on that animatic. While storyboards provide direction for each scene, animatics create clarity around timing, flow, and general pacing of the video. The shot list also helps us identify what we need to capture and when to make the most of every day on set. This combo ensure we haven’t left anything out and is our last chance to make any adjustments for the shoot.
PRE-PRODUCTION cont.
With all the pre-production assets in place our team could confidently move forward into the shoot and post-production efforts. While these steps may feel extensive, they enable our teams to move quickly and efficiently. The best creative isn’t developed in a silo but rather with teams and systems that are built for scale. Here’s a few behind the scenes shots from the BSize shoot and some of the post animation work that went along with it.
PRODUCTION
Every live-action shoot has nuance and there are always surprises. After the production, our editing team begins the process of cutting together the story based on our annotated best shots and the corresponding animatic. It was critical to lock-in our story first before adding the animation overlays to ensure we only animated over footage that was approved. Below is the final edit before any of the animated content.
Post-ProductionWith a big U.S. debut set for the 2024 SXSW Conference in Austin, TX dash helped BSize with a few additional deliverables including a handful of product and lifestyle photos that could be used for a myriad of different materials. We also worked with their team to take assets from the video and repurpose them into a booth design for the SXSW event! Dash Studio prides itself on making content that is evergreen and multifaceted. Video is a big investment, so extrapolated as much content as we can from every production is a way we bring more value to our clients.
SXSW Booth
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