Creative production studio Motion Theory has just released a cinematic fully-animated project to help Target launch its new addition of fresh grocery departments in many stores. “A Better Bullseye” aired Sunday, July 27.
Target approached Motion Theory with the goal of creating a dynamic, engaging animated world that embodied teamwork and captured audiences with the personality and style of a feature-length animated feature — all while echoing the friendly, stylish surprises of the Target brand.
The piece opens with a monumental Target bullseye opening at the touch of a button — casting a shadow across the landscape and introducing a crew of quirky little workers standing alongside their machines, staring in awe as we see what’s inside the bullseye for the first time.
The crew of characters immediately start working together in clever ways to get the enormous bullseye stocked with freshness. Countless different fruits and vegetables are carted in via all sorts of familiar-looking items built into extraordinary machines.
The tempo of the story bursts into activity as our camera glides through the action, highlighting remarkable clockwork efficiency within what would otherwise appear to be absolute chaos. We explore the team spirt and personality in cinematic fashion, moving from vertigo-inducing high angles and sweeping helicopter shots that look down at the ant-sized workers below, to ground-level angles that show off the great mass towering over us. The animated team members resemble the work of Santa’s elves, illustrating productivity and teamwork on a breathtaking scale. Whether they are riding zippy motorized three-wheeled vehicles, using combination wheelbarrow-catapults or bike-powered conveyor belts, or even scaling the bullseye on Mission Impossible-style harnesses, the team is only satisfied when every little nook and cranny in the bullseye is jam-packed with everything fresh. The exterior isn’t ignored either, as we end with a loud squeak of a squeegee making the bullseye shine. After all that work, the whole army of workers disappears back to where they came from, leaving us with the original happy, clean, fun Target bullseye, but now with a million more fun things inside.
Motion Theory Director Chris Riehl led the in-house team of animators and artists through a very condensed production schedule that mirrored the character and story development of a much larger CG animated film. The goal from the beginning was to create human and naturalistic characters with the depth to support a great variety of stories. The characters were all developed as in-house originals at Motion Theory, which also creates a range of Target-branded utilitarian uniforms and nifty gadgets. Riehl’s vision was to create an engaging and detailed story, providing viewers with new experiences and discoveries even after many views. “Partnering with Target and having the opportunity to create an entirely new animated world with original characters and storyline content was an exciting and fulfilling process for the whole team from the very start. The team and I explored every possible detail you see from the memorable cast of characters to the host of strangely specific heavy machinery and vehicles which we hope comes through when watching the spot,” says the director.
Danny Zobrist, the project’s CG/Animation Supervisor and Character Lead, explains, “Although the time constraints were daunting, the team jumped at the chance to create a group of characters that seem to have a life of their own and a world of style and personality. There was a lot of love put into each of these characters and that’s what makes the spot shine.”
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Target “A Better Bullseye”
CLIENT
Client: Target
POST PRODUCTION
Production/VFX Company: Motion Theory
Director: Chris Riehl
Creative Director: Kaan Atilla
Art Director: Chris Riehl
Executive Producer: Javier Jimenez
Managing Producer: Patrick Nugent
Producer: Peter Nelson
CG Supervisors: Charles Paek, Danny Zobrist
Animation Supervisor/Character Lead: Danny Zobrist
Pre-Visualization: Simon Dunsdon, Trevor Tuttle
Designers: Leanne Dare, Paul B. Kim, Ken Gunn Lee, James Levy, Satomi Nagata
Character Designers: Brendan Wiuff, Nate Wragg
Character Animators: Daniel Edwards, Thom Judd, James Parris, Harry Porudominsky, Lauren Wells
Character Riggers: Brian Escribano, Andrea Gausmann, Amy Gohal
Vehicle Rigging/Animation: Scott Cullen
3D Generalist: Ian Mankowski
Lead Character Modeler: Emmanuel Fragelus
Character Modelers/Texture Artists: Bryan Repka, Jean Choi, Sean Kim
Vehicle/Props Modelers: Nick Loizides, Marc Steinberg, Chad Roen
Hair: John Felipe, Martin Furness, Chad Roen
FX Artists: John Cherniack, Matt Johnson
Lighting Supervisor: Charles Paek
V-Ray TD: Justin Lloyd
Lighters: Matt Bell, David Chan, Justin Lloyd
Lead Compositors: Rachel Dunn, Ryan Trippensee
Compositors: Krista Benson, Michael Dobbs, Aaron Frebowitz, Rachel Keyte, Daniel Raschko
Finishing: Matt Motal
Production Manager/HR Director: Tina Van Delden
Production Coordinator: Paul Pianezza
Production Assistant: Sarah Smith
Concept/Writer: David Fowler
Storyboard Artist: Yori Mochizuki
EDITORIAL
Editorial Company: String
Editor: Doron Dor
Assistant Editors: Jeff Aquino, Jeff Johnston
About Motion Theory
Motion Theory is a creative production studio that unites the efforts of directors, animators, designers, visual effects artists and writers, resulting in a deeply collaborative approach to creative development, filmmaking, design and innovative visual effects.
Motion Theory has delivered work for some of the world’s leading companies, including IBM, Disney, Nintendo, Budweiser, Honda, Nike, Hewlett Packard, Tanqueray, Lexus, and Universal Music Group, and partnered with top advertising agencies, including Wieden+Kennedy, Ogilvy & Mather, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Leo Burnett and Young & Rubicam. Additionally, leading artists, including Weezer, Green Day, Beck, Adele and REM have sought out the studio’s directors to create music videos.
The studio has been recognized for its groundbreaking projects, receiving awards from the AICP, Grammys, Emmys, AIGA, Art Directors Club, Clios, and D&AD awards for outstanding direction, creative design, animation and multi-channel work. For more information, please visit www.motiontheory.com.
