A carefully crafted paper world for an animated TV commercial for Coventry Building Society

Story planning

It is a film of two halves. The first half shows the typical experience of customers of high street banks, with the banks closed, frustrations with the banking app and chat bots, customer service leaving a lot to be desired, and a feeling that the bank values it's profits over it's customers. The second half show the experience of a customer of Coventry Building Society, where the story is completely different.

We had to carefully plan the flow of the film, from pace and camera movements, to transitions between shots. We wanted a seamless flow through the bleak world of the first half and into the brighter world of the second. 

Visual style

Coventry Building Society have been working with illustrator Eiko Ojala's beautifully crafted paper textured illustrations for some time - it was our job to work out how to translate his vertical landscape style paper worlds into the language of film. Working with the restrictions of a 16:9 screen, and showing scenes in a sequential order, we creating a story flow that tells the story in a way that works with the style, and even adds to it.

Paper textures and camera movements

We planned the shots and artwork required, then supplied Eiko with a detailed storyboard that he created the textured artwork for. The artwork then had to be painstakingly recreated to be ready to animate, whilst keeping as true as possible to the original artwork style for the brand.

The line work and shapes remained the same, but many of the textures, shadows and effects had to be remade, to recreate the paper-craft feel in a 2.5D environment for animation. 

Pacing was essential for the flow of the film, so that the viewer didn't feel disorientated by the constant camera movements. The seamless movement creates the momentum and takes the audience through the grey paper world at the start, and then transitions into the happier world of Coventry, with iconic landmarks that give it a clear sense of place. 

Sound design

We partnered with audio experts GAS Music on the sound design for the film, who created a bespoke soundtrack that tells the story sonically. The sound creates the mood for the first half of the film, set in the bleak and miserable world of the other kinds of banks, and then transitions into the brighter, colourful world of Coventry Building Society.

Results

The final film creates an evocative atmosphere and a clear visualisation of the benefits of banking with Coventry Building Society when compared with other banks. 

 The brand illustration translates well to film, and the paper textures adds a sense of authenticity and trustworthiness that is essential to the message of the film and the perception of the brand.