Here I will be conducting all of the client research required for my creative project. As specified in the brief, the client is a company by the name of Passion Pictures and would like their next big idea to come to life through the application of research, pre-production and production for a final product of a chosen theme. In order to successfully meet their criteria and create something that would fit into their rota of work, it is first essential to understand them. Knowing the client is crucial to not only meeting goals but also creating ones specific to the service or product. Furthermore, without knowing their background, creating something with the hopes that it will fit into their future work is incredibly difficult and inefficient. So who are Passion Pictures?
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★・・Passion Pictures・・★
— About —
British animation and film production company, Passion Pictures, was established by Andrew Ruhemann in 1987. With offices in London, Melbourne, Paris, Toronto and New York City and an impressive collection of awards under its belt, it’s no surprise why the company describes itself as an “academy award-winning independent studio”. Just looking at their website makes it clear that their range of unique, integrated entertainment evidences their passion for storytelling and provides a clear attestation that they are indeed home to some of the world’s leading talent in animation and documentary filmmaking.
— Work —
It was interesting to flip through some of their completed projects on their home page, where a clarification about their mish-mash of styles and formats is presented. Passion Pictures stick firmly to their belief that no matter the genre, length or style of a particular story, the perfect medium exists and deserves to be discovered, not copied. It is thanks to this core value that their work is a noteworthy assortment of different compositions, techniques and approaches – an assortment that has won them multiple Oscars, BAFTAs, Emmys and advertising awards. Amongst the feature films, TV and commercial content, I got the sense that their exploration of so many styles is, in part, due to their international reach, working with directors and crew from across Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia. It is truly impressive to see what kind of influences lie behind the backbones of some of their work, such as Passion Paris, their sister studio in France that has surely imbued its own flavour of culture and artistry into their productions.
It is clear that their collection of work is a massive collaboration with creatives behind some of the most well-known animated commercials and shorts such as Aleksandr the Meerkat and the original virtual band Gorillaz. Recent animated campaigns also include epic trailers for blockbuster game Apex Legends, Christmas films for banking group Erste and an impactful stop motion story for charity Global Women. It is handiwork such as this that has been recognised by the most prestigious awards and festivals worldwide, notably Academy Awards in both animation and documentary, and precisely what has gained Passion their network of creators across the world.
Passion is committed to telling great stories with heart and soul
Diving into more in-depth research now, viewers can easily navigate through the companies extensive inventory of products and commissions through six different categories:
- Animated Commercials & Music Videos
- Long Form Animation & Short Films
- Passion Paris
- Documentary
- Specialist Factual
- Games Trailers & Cinematics
Animated Commercials & Music Videos
Specialising in animation and film, it is only natural for Passion to be at the forefront of commercial animation production. Whilst skilled in multiple disciplines, scrolling through their first category showed me that they are mostly drawn to 3D, 2D, stop motion and mixed media. Since this seems to be recurring with their more popular works, I will be keeping these formats in mind when researching different ones to do for my work.
Iconic advertisements that I have seen on TV stood out to me, such as Vision Express, Mcdonald’s, Anchor Cheddar’s Perfect Picnic, Kinder Chocolat Doctor and of course, Meerkat Movies. To see such major brands and recognise not just one or two, but multiple of their commercials from TV created a very strong impression and upped the company’s reputation drastically in my eyes.
I really enjoyed seeing all of the different animation types. Even just by looking at the thumbnails, you can see that Passion uphold the words that are displayed on the front of their page; so many stories, funny, heartfelt, action-filled, whatever they may be – all with an individual style. Clearly, the company is unafraid to branch out with their methodology and take on drastically different projects, which shows confidence in their teams and core values. This is why although each advert is different, consistency and quality are upheld.
Long Form Animation & Short Films
In this category, there are considerably fewer pieces however Passion’s established exploration of genres and styles remains. Scrolling down, I could even see children’s media presented through the use of Disney and lego characters, reinforcing that idea that no matter what kind of idea is being carried across, the company will hold themselves up to the same standard and find the perfect way to do it. The evidence also lies in their Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for The Lost Thing as well as collaborations with major streaming services and distributors. Episodes of the Netflix Anthology Love Death & Robots, Disney+ Series and Oscar Nominated shorts like Hors Piste and Pear Cider and Cigarettes all showcase Passion’s steadfast road into Long Form Animation for series, features and short films.
It’s honestly amazing to just experience their visual identity through the website. They have effectively captured their essence through the simple layout, allowing more focus to be drawn onto the quality of the work rather than over-the-top stylistic branding choices. Simple, straightforward and clear, the viewer is drawn by the variant colours and characters and finds that there is something for everyone: an effective method to attract potential clients and big brands.
Passion Paris
Now we come to Passion’s sister company, Passion Paris, which – like the name suggests – is based in the heart of Paris, France and was also founded by Andrew Ruhemann, in 2004. Although they have a section on the main Passion website, they also have their own site where they can dedicate a space to specific projects and directors. They also state that they are a ‘unique production company’ and give some information about their team, outlining their speciality in commercial and long-form animation.
On the main website, their section has a substantial number of completed works, some of which overlap with Passion’s other categories, backing the point that they work closely with the production houses in New York and Melbourne. Both websites follow the same theme and minimal structure, reinforcing the sense of tight-knit networking within the brand.
” Our international roster of directors loves to take on every challenge, no matter the size or the format. We strive to find the perfect creative solution for every brief – animation and storytelling is in our DNA. “
As I scrolled through their work and watched a few examples, I could see for myself that this was true. They also work with every type of animation, be it traditional 2D, stylised or full CG, stop-frame or mixed media, all while delivering the message of the brand and effectively using the chosen medium for the tone of the advert. It was also nice to see some of the cultural influences that the studio in France has added in Rollin’ Wild France and H-Man Generique.
Documentary & Specialist Factual
Although they do have respective categories in the ‘Work’ section of the site, I am grouping the documentaries and factual series together since I don’t think I’ll be doing them for my chosen format and they are quite similar anyway. With over 90 documentaries produced during Passion’s 20-year venture into fact-based film, collaboration with the most exciting filmmakers, writers, journalists, editors, composers and cinematographers working in the industry have led the company to the forefront. Critically acclaimed documentaries including the award-winning Searching for Sugarman, Listen to Me Marlon and most recently Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story maintain Passion’s consistency and merit for two Academy Awards.
Looking into their Specialist Factual department, I could also see that a lot of time and dedication was put toward environment-based movie production, which is fantastic. Although I now realise that a major portion of their output shares the same theme as my project, it is still in a format that is quite foreign in my personal work. I greatly enjoy watching docu-series and other informational handiwork however I do not intend to enter that industry myself, nor do I feel that it would serve my project well considering the surrealistic aspect. I did still explore to an extent despite this.
Once again, using a varied range of tailored approaches, formats and genres, Passion’s subdivision, Passion Planet, showcase inspiring science and natural history documentaries such as the ambitious landmark series H2O: The Molecule that Made Us and Earth: A New Wild and award-winning feature documentary The Serengeti Rules.
For me, it was quite refreshing to step away from the animated videos for a moment and delve into Passion’s live-action storytelling. The production company’s wonderful philosophy that every story deserves to be told with its own style endorsed equally here, through the many cultures, perspectives and interesting topics chosen to be documented and shared. Whether it’s an investigation into the death of a musical artist from the ’60s, an examination of the global impact of the Paralympic Games or a riveting firsthand testimony of man’s journey to the moon, Passion seem to take the challenge on with enthusiasm, shining light on stories big and small.
Games Trailers & Cinematics
For the final category, I wasn’t surprised to discover that Passion Pictures have also set foot into the gaming industry, creating trailers and cinematics for blockbuster game franchises including League of Legends, Apex Legends and Rise of Kingdoms. With reference to their skilled storytelling directors and industry-leading technologists, the company hones down on why their position is unique. As described, they are proficient in developing never-seen-before styles and looks that can then be applied in film production, perfect for growing and expanding a game universe and standing out in a fast-paced market.
In this department, there is a far more consistent style in terms of the characters, world and atmosphere. This is because most of these projects are from the same company, which shows Passion’s success because of Apex’s continual return to their team. It also proclaims their ability to remain consistent if they wished, which could have been hard to see or doubted had they not succeeded in creating multiple videos for the same universe. Amazingly, despite this, there is still experimentation and you can see distinct 2D styles, differing levels in 3D realism and non-identical formats (music videos, trailers, short stories etc.)!
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I feel like I’ve learned so much just from exploring the ‘work’ section of their website and wanted to comment on it. I can honestly say that it took me by surprise just how acclaimed and popular Passion’s productions are. So many videos and adverts that I’ve seen, either on TV back before I came across Netflix, or on youtube and yet I never questioned who was behind those creations (aside from the major brands). Collaborations with massive companies like Sony, Disney and Apex have opened my eyes to what kind of reputation Passion Pictures have built for themselves, and how successful they really are. And their work lives up to every bit of it – the quality of the animation, the styles, the standard in both 2D, 3D and in fact, every other medium, it’s all brilliantly done and I am confident that every genre and format has a home with Passion, should they choose to take it on. I love that what they claim can actually be seen; all too often the motto of a company or brand is hard to find aside from the front page or under the logo, but with Passion – it’s plain as day. There is no need to hunt because they show you their love of art and belief in fair storytelling with every new release, leaving no room for doubt as to their place in the industry and why major corporations seem to be flocking to their directors. Alas, their impressive use of different media makes it hard to pinpoint a target audience, which leads me onto the next section of research into the company.
— Target Audience —
As I mentioned above, it is difficult to determine a fixed audience for the company because of its assemblage of incredibly diverse projects. Not only is there a range of categories, but in each, there is also an assortment of genres and styles that are hard to group outside of their main format. For example, an animated series about 100 adorable Disney puppies is evidently directed towards a younger audience that loves fun, light-hearted, short stories and probably spends most of their day around such characters, be it on TV or on an iPad. However, on the other end of the spectrum, we have a docu-drama based on the destruction of North America’s most precious tree, which would sit comfortably on the watchlist of a more mature audience who enjoy explorations of deep questions through genres such as environmental thriller. Each would probably find the other’s favourite media boring, yet Passion accumulates both. This is because their aim is not to perfect one classification and stay strictly within that lane but rather to make beautiful, thought-provoking films and enjoyable entertainment for everyone.
Whilst doing some research, however, I did find some interesting information about their approach to team members and types of stories. They express awareness of the lack of sufficient pathways for those from underrepresented backgrounds and communities in the industry and an ongoing movement to change this. It makes sense that they are committed to diversity and inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, and experience because of the message that they preach as storytellers – we must all reflect fairly on the world we live in, and doing so means providing a space for all kinds of perspectives and tales.
Due to this, in their Diversity & Inclusion Policy, Passion Pictures affirm their training with Diverse Matters, proactive application of their Equal Opportunities Policy and support for the British Black List, all to make a difference, embed inclusivity within their studio culture and step proudly into the future. They are also members of the Creative Mentor Network, pairing their team with mentees from the scheme in every area of their studio, developing and nurturing talent from all backgrounds and expanding the representation of their company and the animation community. In my opinion, this shows that their targeted audience is constantly growing and shifting, to accommodate their goal of all-around inclusivity. In other words, to Passion, the demographics of an audience will be researched only for the details of a singular production, but aren’t decided by preference in terms of their overall scope of work.
Our ongoing commitment is to learn, listen and adapt to continuously improve as a company and lead our industry in positive change
With this in mind, I will be continuing with my original plan for the target audience of my project, to take into consideration who I feel it is aimed for and how that segment of Passion’s audience will respond to it. For my target audience profile, I will refer back to the research I have done here and how it is relevant to my project goals.
— Favourites —
It’s impossible to scroll through Passion Picture’s categorised works, watch examples and not have favourites. But aside from ‘best examples of personal opinion’ I also kept in mind the inspirations and research that I was doing for my project, which meant I would be analysing some of their finalised products anyway. I will also include some research on the directors behind each piece since their other works and origins within the industry might be useful to my goals for the future and could lead to ideas for the creative project final media.
━━━━━━ ☆⭒ >>> Wagamama ‘Bowl to Soul’
First off we have this adorable advert for Wagamama which is one of the first videos I watched when exploring Passion’s work. And what luck! The stunning anime-inspired film uses the same principle as my project, an alternate reality is presented to the viewer in order to better convey a specific idea. In this case, we follow the protagonist as she gets ready for dinner with friends, in parallel with the preparation of her meal in the Wagamama restaurant. Upon tasting the delicious food set out in front of her, she is whisked away into a new world, full of beautiful food-themed landscapes and nature. The purpose of this fantastical setting is to carry across the sorts of emotions and tastes you experience when eating the food and I certainly got that sense when watching it.
Each frame exists as a unique, beautifully created illustration inspired by anime art, with a broad range of modern, diverse references and characters. The style and colours are chosen perfectly in my opinion, not only as homage to the Japanese origin of the medium and the restaurant’s cuisine but also for the light, blissful feeling that it evokes from the audience. The ad illustrates Wagamama’s soul-feeding philosophy with delicious-looking food that leaves you inspired by the feeling you get when you eat it and not just the food itself, which shows how much thought the animators have put into it.
The director, Mads Broni is a designer and animation director based in Copenhagen. He mixes classic 2D character animation with 3D environments and camera moves in order to create breathtaking visuals that engage and excite the viewer. His mission for audience enthusiasm and zest has led his style in film dynamism, energy and movement which was used in two hugely popular trailers he directed for Apex Legends. This Wagamama commercial is his most recent project, where he took his love of anime and transformed it into something new, aiming to embody the idea of ‘kaizen’, which is a Japanese term meaning “change for the better” or “continuous improvement”.
Bowl to Soul is one of the more relevant of my examples because I have planned to involve a similar concept in my final product. However, instead of a character, the audience is the one being taken on a journey, and instead of a world of mushrooms and carrots, it’ll be of fantastical creatures and surrealistic settings. The similarity is the goal of evoking understanding through a comparison – through a different existence. The magic, the beauty and the feeling of wonder will hopefully also be present.
━━━━━━ ☆⭒ >>> Greenpeace ‘There’s a Rang-Tan in my Bedroom’
My next chosen example aligns with a different part of my project – the theme. There’s a Rang-Tan in my Bedroom is a short film narrated by Emma Thompson, focusing on the story of a young orangutan called Rang-tan who has found himself in a little girl’s bedroom. Initially, it starts out with a comedic feel and we laugh at the chaos Rang-tan causes as the girl’s confusion leads her around the room, following him and asking questions and eventually trying to shoo him away out of anger.
At first, the animation style has this lovely, colourful, lively energy, almost as if crayons were used to colour the scenes. Everything is jubilant and warm and gives the impression of a children’s film. However, this sense of happiness is greatly exaggerated to bring attention to the next part of the film – the most important part. As the girl asks why the orangutan was in her room, a transition brings about an abrupt shift in style, and suddenly all of the bright, cosy colours are gone, replaces with stark greys, harsh blacks and the blaring contrast of darkness and light.
This is to show the truth about what’s happening. Greenpeace brings the rampant destruction of rainforest habitat in Indonesia to grow palm oil into the spotlight and with the intense greyscale, the audience gets a real gist of how terrible the consequences of these actions are. I could feel the sadness, the death and the poison and smoke through the jarring difference in colour and even the editing style changed, with a shaky camera and lonely, zoomed-out shots to emphasize the destruction with negative space.
The scenes are designed and animated using various techniques including 3D and VR, with Salon Alpin’s aim to bring to life the hand-drawn animation in a flow of action and immersive camera moves. Unlike the previous example, a sole director is not responsible for the making of this commercial, but rather an award-winning animation studio based in Lisbon and Vienna, Salon Alpin, founded by Lip Comarella and Simon Griesser. They also work across illustration, animation, film direction and music production, bringing a multidisciplinary eye to each project. Their work mainly consists of short films, promos and commercials such as ‘Rang-tan’, which won Best Animated TVC at the Annie awards and is a big reason for their landed industry acclaim.
It’s understandable why, since they’ve effectively communicated the weight of a particular environmental problem. I hope to use animation and achieve a similar effect, also in a small amount of time, as they have. It has reinforced the idea that you don’t need hours to explore a topic – it can be more impactful sometimes, with far less.
━━━━━━ ☆⭒ >>> League of Legends ‘Legends Never Die’
League of Legends is one of the most played PC games worldwide. Passion Animation Studios directing collective ROYGBIV (Evan Viera and Tommy Wooh) mix 2D and 3D animation to create the trailer’s unique style and an exciting visual world for the larger than life League of Legends characters to inhabit. We follow three-character narratives, all of which are fantastic characters in the universe of LOL that battle with their own obstacles in order to survive. We see their struggle, their will to grow, their fight and journey, all alongside the soaring vocals of Chrissy Costanza (Legends gamer and lead singer of US pop-rock outfit Against The Current) which powers the song and sends a thrill of inspiration into the viewer.
Personally, I always feel inspired listening to Legends Never Die because it does exactly as it says – it makes you believe you’re some great immortal, or at least, are capable of becoming one if you work as hard as the characters of this world.
Yet again, a world that is different to ours is utilised in order to send a message. I have added this one because of the fantastical inspiration. There is an archer, a blind warrior and a sword-master who train in order to become stronger and their stories are ultimately woven into a gripping promo for Riot Games’ League of Legends 2017 World Championships, not only elevating the event and making the public more excited but also reinforcing the idea that even if we don’t live on a planet of magic and inhuman strength, people can still become legends that live forever in our memory.
I love the animation and the style and although it is far too detailed and technically advanced for what I could do for my project, I hope to create an animation with at least some of the fantasy captured here. The mood is rather different to what I’m going for, but I like that there is a contrast and blend of our reality with that of a game, it’s super cool!
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To conclude my research on Passion Pictures, I have gained a really deep insight into the client’s background. They have, almost a daunting, library of work and uphold their beliefs and work ethic honourably with each one. My project will fit nicely into their spot in the industry because of the theme of environmentalism, which they have looked into extensively, and the fact that animation is certainly one of the products, which is a major source of outcome for them. Because there is no specific target audience, I will work hard to ensure my profile and own research is accurate and I am able to set clearer intentions depending on more in-depth data like psychographics. I am happy to have Passion as my goal for this project because the animation and message of every story being purposeful and important is truly magnificent, and even if I don’t have enough time or people behind me to produce something as good as ‘Legends Never Die’, I will be reaching high with my own animation standard for their reputation to uphold.