| NCB Naturalis // Interview with PlusOne | |||
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How to translate into a film the treasures of NCB Naturalis, the Dutch center of studies on biodiversity ? This is the gamble that PlusOne and director Martijn Hogenkamp have been taken in a piece that makes light of times (past, present, future) and constraints (budget, time, huge amount of objects). The producer Marcel Vrieswijk and Martijn Hogenkamp go back over the need of a strong organization in this kind of project and the power of motion graphics, just perfect for all solutions.
Please tell us about the background of this project. Where did it come from ? NCB Naturalis got to know our work via their network and approached us directly. No other agency was involved. They were really enthusiastic about our previous projects (specifically mentioning Beelden voor de Toekomst) and asked us to create a film for them in which the past, present and future of NCB Naturalis is visualized. How did you approach such a subject as complex as NCB Naturalis ? To get to know all about this organization we did intensive research, online as well as on location, and we had meetings with project and communication managers of NCB Naturalis. In complex projects, good preparation is the key to successful completion.
What are the principal creative aspects of this spot ? The biggest creative challenge was to create a coherent story and style, which embodies the past, present and future. To highlight the variety of the museum, and its collection, we wanted to merge several media. So, basically we had to deal with several bits and pieces to create a consistent film. Next to that, we had to deal with quite a broad target audience: from scientist to children. So, the film should be scientific and playful at the same time. It was quite a puzzle to solve. Since we had to fit all the styles and techniques into a coherent and appealing film the design process took a bit longer than usual. Another challenge was the tight budget, so we had to be creative. We couldn’t hire professional actors for instance; most of the people you see in the film are relatives and friends. The ancestor in the first scene is one of the co- founders of our company.
Please give us some insight on the piece. How long did production and post-production take for this spot ? We’ve been working on this project for about seven weeks. After NCB Naturalis’ brief we started writing the first version of the script, which was finalized together with the client. When everybody was happy the storyboard was created and, after a few small amendments the design process started. We delivered some style frames, which they really liked. After that we prepared the shoot, which was done in about 7 hours. Prior to the shoot we created a pre-viz, which was very helpful - as always. The post-production took us a few weeks, including animation, compositing, editing and sound design.
What tools did you use ? For this project we used Photoshop, After Effects, and Cinema4D. Photoshop for the design, Cinema4D for design and animation, and After Effects for animation and compositing. The camera we used, was the Red One. The CG looks awesome and the transitions are seamlessly performed. What was the most challenging part of this work ? Since we chose to mix several media and wanted to have variety in the design as well, we needed smooth transitions to merge the styles and techniques. The pace of the film was very important. That’s why the pre-viz was very helpful. So we knew when a scene was too long for instance. As said, the design process took a bit longer than usual because all scenes should look different but each scene should be part of the same family. Composition, typography and the color-scheme were very important to achieve this.
The wealth of detail is impressive. How did you manage to balance time and budget ? During the pre-production we were really clear about what we were going to create towards our client (we wrote a concept, made a storyboard, created style frames and a pre-viz). By doing this we reduced the change of feedback during post-production to a minimum. In the end our approach turned out well. We had very little feedback. Past, present and future come together in the film. Do you think motion design brings the most effective response to such a problematic ? Motion graphics are very helpful to tell a story with several levels of information for a broad target audience. Motion design can enhance the visual language with graphical metaphors to render easy-to-understand information. Next to that, motion design can give existing footage, like paintings or photo’s, an extra or a new dimension : Amsterdam DNA. With all these possibilities it doesn’t matter if you have to visualize the future or visualize the past with historical objects. It’s just a matter of hitting the right buttons. -- CREDITS Commissioned by: NCB Naturalis (www.naturalis.nl) |
