Finding the soul of a film and bringing it new life: Let us take you through our process of creating a nostalgic but era-ambiguous piece for one of the world’s biggest and oldest cosmetic brands, in an ad co-directed by Hunter Schafer.
Shiseido's collaboration with Hunter Schafer resulted in a bold, impactful animated short, the story of a bored teen who undergoes a transformative journey of self-discovery through experimentation with cosmetics.
When we joined the project, the story and visuals were well-established, but the music composition and sound design remained unexplored. Since this film is, as its creators put it, “not a traditionally inspiring adventure”, we met with Hunter and co-director Andrew Onorato to get an understanding of how the central character—and our audience—should be feeling at each story beat.
“This is not a traditionally inspiring adventure; She’s not in control of what’s happening. She's in a state of cautious wonder.”
~Andrew Onorato, Director
Finding the pulse
We’d love to say, at this point, that we grabbed a guitar and let inspiration take us but the reality was a little more prosaic.
With a story that twists and shifts pace like this, experience has taught us that careful planning can result in a smoother, more emotionally engaging experience than spontaneity could afford. In order to start writing, we needed to find the heartbeat of the edit.
Our first few passes were nothing but crude MIDI drums, testing the cuts and action for synchronicity..
Fleshing out
Letting our tempo skeleton inspire us, we jammed riffs and melodies until we produced something versatile enough to spark each feeling along our protagonist's journey.
Drawing from masters of Impressionism from Alice Coltrane to Cocteau Twins, we settled on delicate accoustic plucks that blossom into a musky Debussy fragrance before breaking into full, shimmering, dream pop guitars.
Applying makeup
As the animation neared completion, we refined the composition, adding depth and richness with atmospheric elements like effects and synth layers and ornamental details like flutes and harps. Many revisions and re-recordings later, she is ready to face the world anew.
