We wanted the spot to have a classy and mature look, a visual style based on 3D CG with a 2D-like finish, suggesting a mixed-media hand-painted feel. In order to achieve this, we did the modeling of the characters in CG, then digitally painted them with a brush stroke effect to add a handmade feel to the render. Those renders were then composed over 2D matte paintings done in the same style. We also wanted it to look like the paint was moving and flickering like in a stop motion or frame by frame animation style.

This was challenging on such a tight schedule. We’ve achieved this kind of effect before by painting frame by frame but it just takes too long. What we ended up doing instead was painting some frames from the shots and feeding them to an A.I. tool so it would apply the effect to the in-between frames of the whole spot.

Because it plays such a central role in the narrative, we wanted to treat the smoke as a character of its own. There is a rhythm that the smoke follows throughout the spot, slowly growing into this ghostly figure that haunts our hero. It’s ever-present, always trying to touch her, to be near her, until finally making a move to swallow the protagonist, which is when she struggles and is able to break free from it.

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