Computer Chip Cities, Claymation and Zoetropes Bring ANZ to Life in New Animated Campaign

Sixty40 and Heckler have announced the release of three animated films created for Chartered Accountants ANZ’s The Art of Prosperity campaign through Joy Sydney.

Joy approached Sixty40 & Heckler looking for a partner to help bring their tactile concept for 'The Art of Prosperity' to life.

"Right from the get-go, Steve Back and the team at Joy wanted a genuine in-camera feel to the films. A crafted, hand-made aesthetic strong enough to carry 'The Art of Prosperity' message," says Simon Robson, Creative Director at Sixty40.

"We went through several rounds of storyboarding for each film. Joy's feedback was often: 'Those ideas are great, but we think you can push it further'. As a director that's really refreshing to hear”, said Robson.

As for the realisation of the films, the Sixty40 & Heckler team decided on a hybrid in-camera and CG approach. "Clay was always going to be a fully in-camera spot, but at the outset it was less clear for Chips and Cake. We created a basic CG zoetrope test cake and went all out on the render to see how quickly we could get it in a good place. Steve Back and the team at Joy loved what they saw and gave our CG test the green light, so we went forward for a fully CG approach for Cake. All that chocolate, icing and marzipan you see in the final film is just pixels. I constantly felt hungry reviewing tests, so that was a good sign!”, said Robson

Chips was more of a live-action / CG cross-over. "When we realised just how small our sets would be, we ruled out stop-motion. But we really wanted the chip-board world to be the real-deal. So we worked with our art-department for weeks to build the chip-board city that you see in the film,” said Robson. The Heckler CG team were then tasked with adding all the moving and building parts in the chip-board world. "I particularly love the night shots, they work beautifully with the Vangelis inspired score," said Robson.