Full English Post on Crafting Sound Design that ‘Sonically Smiles’ for Paper Mate

When Kieran Kaye and his team at audio post production studio Full English Post were instructed by LiveLab to “bring in the big guns,” when adding sound that was as colourful as the visuals in this spot for Paper Mate, it was a challenge they eagerly accepted.

The brief for the spot was fairly open, Kieran says, with the only direction given being, “there’s a lot of opportunity here for some rich sound design to really bring this thing to life.” With the music already chosen by the client, Full English Post got to work selecting the type of sounds they'd use to match the vibe of the music and enhance the ‘Feel the Joy’ nature of the spot even further.

“Once we were internally aligned we got to work building the soundscape,” says Kieran. “We tend to build a base and pull more SFX than we need, and then layer, layer, layer.” Using the campaign’s visuals as a guide, the team worked to build a world of sound around it that simultaneously complimented and uplifted the narrative.

The premise of ‘Feel the Joy’ fed into the team’s approach to the audio throughout the creative process. “The campaign title says it all,” Kieran says, “so there was no doubt this needed to be over the top and sonically smile. It was clear there needed to be bright, sparkly sound design throughout.

“We only used positive and happy sounds that resembled what was happening in this fantasy world.” Turning the page from blank to full of colour, life and energy, the ‘fantasy world’ that materialises in this spot is made all the more believable thanks to the sound effects that seamlessly tie in with the visual cues on screen.

Encompassing ‘pop’, ‘whoosh’, twinkling sounds and more, the spot visually and audibly jumps off the screen – just as Paper Mate’s bright and metallic gel pens help drawings to leap off the page.

“There’s a lot of ‘sprinkle’ sound effects in the spot (think Disney-style magic) and we thought we’d gone too hard on them but they kept asking for more.” Kieran says, “It became an ongoing joke throughout the session that one can never have enough sprinkles. It’s not often we get to use magical SFX so liberally, and we were loving it!”

Talking more generally on the importance of audio post, Kieran shares his belief that it’s “crucial to creativity.” He adds, "I'm biased of course, but it really does elevate everything in a piece of content. Even when it’s simple sound design using Foley and understated SFX, it adds a level of professionality and elevated production quality to any spot.

“In this particular campaign, I think sound design took this beautiful visually designed piece of content to a whole new level.”

“We built on the success of our 2024 campaign, crafting a world of imagination and colour, featuring influencer HappyKelli.” Adds brand imagination company, Livelab, reflecting on the work. “Through a blend of cutting edge technology, VFX, original music, and (ahem) incredible sound design, we think people will truly ‘Feel the Joy’ of Paper Mate pens when they see this campaign.”