NZTA - The Sign of a Safe Speed

"It’s more than just a number on a stick.”

Role

Arranged through my wonderful agent, Dusty Road, I was contracted to take the initial design, character explorations and written script and create a full motion design solution, from initial scamps right through to a finished creative piece for online broadcast.

Working closely with the design team at Watermark Creative, I was bought in early to have input into how best to tell this story that was a blend of motion graphics and character animation.

An extremely fun and enjoyable piece. One of my favourite projects from 2021 and a great experience with the fine people at Watermark Creative and Dusty Road.

The Challenge

For a topic such as speed limits on roads and highways, there is always a hill to climb in regards to public reaction and their understanding of a health and safety process that is mostly invisible to the use of the resource.

We had to create a environment that held recognisable scenarios, but was simultaneously not recognisable as any one place. We also had to create a character that was able to speak with informative authority while not being over bearing or bossy, nor childish and overly toony.

The last thing people want is to be talked down too. And the last thing the client wanted was for their project to be dismissed as “for kids”.

A delicate balance was called for.

Process

We created a parallel stream production pipeline with heavy flexibility baked in.

Once the initial rough boards had been sketched up and tossed back n forth, the team at Watermark Creative went to work building a detailed colour board for client sign off and background generation. At the same time I started the After Effects project build, shot planning and Toon Boom Harmony character rigging process. Once that was up and running I went straight into full scale production.

Asset Generation: Adobe Illustrator / Character animation: Toon Boom Harmony / Compositing and Motion: Adobe After Effects

The Result

And here it is. The final render!

Credits

Client: NZTA Waka Kotahi

Studio: Watermark Creative

Agent: Lucy Everett, Dusty Road

Animation Direction/Animation/Compositing: Fraser Munro

Art Direction: Dave Way, Watermark Creative

Year: 2021