Cutting Edge Animates a Flora Wonderland for Cairns Regional Council

A tropical garden paradise springs to life and breaks out into song in Cairns Regional Council’s latest ‘Water Security Survivors’ animated commercial by Cutting Edge via agency Redsuit.

Featuring floral diva “Ginger” and her back-up singers belting out a performance of the Gloria Gaynor hit I Will Survive, the TVC spreads the message that native plants can thrive “in the wet and in the dry” without excessive watering.

Employing a 70’s style disco theme, Cutting Edge animation director Ian Anderson was briefed to design a chorus line of animated singing and dancing plant caricatures. He decided to establish an ‘Alice In Wonderland’ inspired aesthetic for the hero plants and their environment, matching this storybook influenced style of animation with a more polished 3D edge.  

To recreate the ‘Alice’ style charm, Anderson embraced traditional background painting techniques created in Maya and Photoshop. This painterly quality adds warmth and texture to the imagery, which is made up of a unique combination of traditional and contemporary animation approaches.

“We wanted to design and develop vibrant and lively plant characters that would really stand out on screen and by embodying a stylised 3D look and feel, we could bring the fable-like flora into a new, more modern era,” Anderson explained.

“Our 3D VFX pipeline meant we were able to embellish the animation of the plants with the addition of camera moves that bring us deeper into the garden world undergrowth,” he added.

A vibrant colour palette was also enlisted to introduce the uniquely North Queensland flora whilst the colour design also considers the dappled sunlight that illuminates the garden in a traditional disco glow, shining through the translucent coloured leaves.

Redsuit producer Tracey Fraser says: “We are proud of the campaign and appreciate all Cutting Edge has done to make this such an amazing little project. The client loves it and has really taken the characters to heart.” 

Agency: Redsuit
Creative Director: John Anderson
Art Director: Emma Ziesemer & Chris Eichberger
Producer: Tracey Fraser & Tom Griffin
Music & Sound: Garry Smith - Jamhouse

Production Company: Cutting Edge
Director: Ian Anderson
VFX + Post Producers: Jessica Vines & Samara Keune
Storyboards: Ian Anderson
Editors: Matt Dye & Victor Bandeira
Designers: Ian Anderson & Bryn Morrow
3D Supervisor: Matt Dye
Textures & Shaders: Bryn Morrow & Ian Anderson
FX: Rob Conn
Lighting: Phil Jackson
Lead Compositors: Victor Bandeira & Raoul Teague
3D Artist: Ahmed Nashabe, Matt Dye, Sarah Collier & Andrew Kimberley
Matte Painters: Ian Anderson & Richard Deavin
Online: Steve Leacey