Polyester Studio | University of Regina — See beyond the bottle cap

Polyester

Agency M5, working with the University of Regina, wanted to introduce the University’s new Imagineur program. Landing on the metaphor of a bottle cap being more than just a bottle cap, they came to us at Polyester to bring the script to life, creating a 30-second animation for TV and dozens of social outputs, introducing the Imagineur program.  We follow the bottle cap through various styles and techniques that blend together to elevate a simple journey into a more ambitious visual kaleidoscope that speaks to the target audience.

The challenge was incorporating a minimum of 8 different styles in 30 seconds while staying within brand guidelines. The University of Regina is situated on Treaty 4 lands with a presence in Treaty 6. These are the territories of the nêhiyawak, Anihšināpēk, Dakota, Lakota, and Nakoda, and the homeland of the Métis/Michif Nation. Polyester added a Native Canadian artist to the team to bring the spot to life. We worked with the illustrator Brent Beauchamp to create an image of the universe and portraits of students at the end. The other scenes were created by the art team at Polyester and balanced contrasting 2D and 3D scenes to maximize the visual interest.
A limited palette using some core brand colours helped tie the many art styles together and allowed the hero of the spot to be a simple bottle cap. The bottle cap is the transforming device that each scene is built around and connects the visuals to the script. This allowed us to avoid the usual see-say of a script and instead add more depth to the words by creating scenes that play up metaphors and allow the viewer to “see beyond the bottle cap”. Our workflow on this used Blender for 3D and compositing with cel animation for some additional accents, scenes, and characters. Having the flexibility to use Blender, where the program does not determine the final look and style, allowed us to use a smaller-than-usual cel animation team and produce work quicker to meet the tight schedule.


Credits:
Damian Bonse, Executive Creative Director
Jim Mackey, Creative Director
Vanessa Moeller, Senior Writer
Rocio Ugarte, Senior Art Director
Kate Guest, Senior Account Director
Alexis LaForest, Account Director

Audio:
Scott Loane, Senior Director
Grant King, Sound Engineer

Instagram:
@polyesterstudio