With the growing popularity of Facebook comes an ever-expanding need for energy. Greenpeace recently called on the talents of Director Daniel Bird and his international production company, Savage, to create a new 30-second spot asking Facebook to "Unfriend Coal." An integral part of the creative team on this new campaign was Motion504, who completed all of the visual effects and 3D/2D animation. The new spot is currently posted on Facebook and is airing nationwide this month in anticipation of Earth Day on April 22nd.
With only 30 seconds of screen time and two weeks before deadline, motion504 came to the rescue to clearly and effectively communicate the Greenpeace message to Facebook. Led by motion504 Creative Director Scott Wenner, the motion504 team collaborated closely on the international project, with Director Daniel Bird and Savage. Utilizing Skype and iChat, the creative team stayed in constant communication with Bird spearheading a shoot in Prague capturing the protest footage, while motion504 completed a visual effects shoot in the Twin Cities.
"Daniel was very open to hearing our ideas, after we received some initial storyboards from him," said CD Scott Wenner of motion504. "We were able to stay in touch with conference calls and iChat. The real challenge was the timeline, being able to execute our ideas within just a couple of short weeks. But working together, we were able to accomplish our goals. For me, this meant a lot personally: to make a contribution to a project for Greenpeace, which does such great work around the world."
"We were looking for a creative design studio that would help us find the right look and deliver the message as well as possible," noted Pavla Burgetova, Managing Director of Savage. "motion504 were just great to work with and went beyond our expectations."
"Greenpeace's latest commercial was short on time and budget, so it was a huge commitment for Motion504 to step in and take on the project," added Director Daniel Bird. "Not only did they take it on, but they added tremendous value to the project. I wanted this to be a matter of collaboration rather than dictation, so the visuals were agreed upon between us rather than imposed. I'm delighted with the results, and the friendliness of the motion504 team, as well as its openness to ideas and generating fresh ones in a stressful timeline."
Bird was particularly pleased by the sequence that leads from the Facebook web page, "crushing" it back through the infrastructure to a lump of coal, and the final animation, where a hand pats the Earth, producing friendly little wind turbines whilst the sun glows over the scene. The first example uses short, powerful strokes to tell a long, complicated story, and the second a literal "light touch" to give a big idea a human, achievable feel.