When TracyLocke’s Group Creative Director Tyler Kitchens approached our Republic Design motion graphics team with an idea for a client, he came to us with limited resources but faith that we could create something special. The project was a fun animated 15-second spot for La Madeleine, a Dallas-based French cafe chain with over 86 locations across ten different states.
Kitchens had worked with our animation and design studio in Dallas in the past and knew that despite the job’s modest budget, Republic Design would be able to put something together for them. His sources consisted of a collection of photo stills of La Madeleine’s fresh and traditional French pastries and dishes, as well as some playful illustrations drawn by the team’s Senior Art Director, Brynner Aldrich. The hope was that our motion graphic designers could bring the food and the illustrations to life.
As the food was shot from the top looking down, we threw in the idea of wrapping up the spot with an overhead shot that tilted down to reveal the restaurant in the background behind the food. We spoke with Josh Blaylock, our table-top shooter over at Republic Productions. Josh was down to help our design team create a nice motion shot to bring the end of the spot to life. Kitchens and the client loved the idea. We began the project with the understanding that we would allow time at the end for the live action shot.
Our team began dissecting the lovely detailed illustrated style frames created by Aldrich which helped give us a groundwork for understanding the various key moments of the spot. After lining these frames up with a voice over scratch to get a rough idea of the flow of the spot, our team began breaking these elements down. Our motion graphic designers created multiple layers out of the artwork so they had as much control as possible in the animation software.
The animation itself relied on fine tuning the timing of the scenes and wide camera shots to ensure our motion graphic artists could account for every detail possible. Individual elements and illustrations were incorporated frame by frame, to give a traditional animation quality to the action. Our motion graphics design team also added additional graphic elements to several of the frames to help balance the overall composition of the piece.
While our animation studio‘s detailed design work was in process, our production team was in pre-production for the end shot – researching surfaces, backgrounds and the food elements for the end frame. To give them an idea of what the shot would require from a timing perspective and to make sure the layout would meet with La Madeleine aesthetics, our design team created a quick animatic for the ending. A coffee cup, croissant, and branded napkin were built on top of a table in 3D, and a camera move was added to reveal the table was inside a La Madeleine restaurant.
Both the agency and client were blown away by how close this conceptual piece looked. It became quickly apparent that with a few tweaks to lighting and texture, it would be very easy for our Republic Design team to make the end shot entirely photorealistic. Because the CG approach would have more flexibility to control and customize the shot, the decision was made to scrap production and finish out the entire shot in 3D. Adjustments to the timing and framing were made, steam was added, and the overall result perfectly captured the tone and branding of La Madeleine
The result embodied La Madeleine’s fun, approachable character. Despite a smaller budget and pivot from the original idea, our animators at Republic Design were able to take on the challenge, creating something that exceeded their new client’s expectations. Having crafted the now completed piece, we were thrilled with the client’s immediate and astounding reaction.
Republic not only made it happen, but they also elevated it higher than we thought possible; they were able to make something great out of so little. We weren’t sure if we would be able to pull off this spot given our existing assets…they knocked this out of the park – the edit, the color, and the awesome 3D animation at the end.”
Group Creative Director, TracyLocke, Tyler Kitchens