Keeping little Giblet – the main character in the new mobile game “Oops! You Died,” from developer Signal Zero, San Francisco, CA — alive is a lot harder than it looks, what with all the falling anvils, lightning bolts and even an udderly-confused cows. That’s the concept behind a trailer for the app featuring a ‘modern retro’ animated look from Calabash, the award-winning creative studio led by Creative Director Wayne Brejcha and Executive Producer Sean Henry.
“The look of the trailer was inspired by Signal Zero's game design, which was heavily influenced by classic animated shows from the 1980s like Ren and Stimpy,” Brejcha says. “They wanted something that was built solidly on the look of the game, which is well thought out visually. Everything has a meaning and a purpose, from the color of Giblet to the color of the sky. The client wanted to take it to another level, including a 3D camera tracking move through the environment."
The fast-paced trailer features a manically silly Giblet running quickly through a tropical war zone, seemingly oblivious to falling debris that includes anvils, bar bells, safes, pianos, lightning and even a nuclear warhead, before finally being done in by a falling cow.
According to Henry, while the Calabash team strove to capture the spirit of the game, they also imbued it with a more dynamic, cinematic look.
“Our animation team had a blast adapting the flat, graphic, slick-vector look of the game into a more 3D-feeling realm,” Henry notes. “We had to make sure the action was fun and dynamic, but still clearly readable and visually rich. Signal Zero was a joy to work with, giving us solid direction and the freedom to contribute our own nutty ideas. Not surprisingly, in the course of the production I became addicted to another wacky game on my iPhone.”
About Calabash Animation
Led by Creative Director Wayne Brejcha and Executive Producer Sean Henry, Calabash is the Chicago, IL-based animation production studio known for its award-winning animation for the advertising and entertainment industries. Calabash Animation is perhaps best known for their creative character animation and development of some of America’s most beloved brand icons. In addition to it advertising working, the company has also produced several acclaimed short films, including ‘’Stubble Trouble,’’ which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2002. Click here for more info about Calabash: http://calabashanimation.com/
