Projects.
Turning Red Digital Pet
The project
SBM creates a nostalgic social asset as part of the domestic Turning Red campaign.
The puzzle
For the promotion of their upcoming film Turning Red, Disney wanted something a little different. To tie in to the early 2000s aesthetic from the film, they set a brief: create a dynamic digital pet asset that would be perfect for social media.
This would help to endear the film to millennial audiences who may have had a digital pet of their own when growing up.
The solution
After exhaustive research of digital pets, the Design team set about crafting a perfect recreation of their general aesthetic, casting the film’s main character as the subject.
A few frames of ‘Turning Red’ were pixelated, then animated frame by frame to ensure that they had the perfect, janky retro feel.
The results
The finished piece was a nostalgic throwback to digital pets at the turn of the millennium, featuring visuals, music and sound effects that perfectly evoked childhood memories of its intended social media audience. This allowed for promotion of the film in a way that was far different to a regular trailer, but also intrinsically tied to the film, its universe and its characters.
‘Turning Red’ itself was a critical and financial success, praised for its stylish animation and heartfelt, relatable story.
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