What’s the world of Candy Land like? As imagined by the award-winning animation studio Calabash Animation it is a lush, colorful world where every surface seems to be made of candy. The studio teamed with New York-based ad agency Uproar to create the visually stunning spot for the new Candy Land Castle game, a riff of the classic board game that targets the U.S. Latino market.
“We had to develop two challenging images — the Candy Land Castle and the King Kandy character,” Dan Lombardi, Creative Director at Uproar. ”In creating the Castle, Calabash worked closely with us and our client, Hasbro Games, to create a visually stunning place that’s like something from a kid’s imagination. The testing we did with kids revealed that they loved the animation of the castle, and especially the King, as well as the bright, eye-popping colors. It was a smooth process and myself and Hasbro were very pleased with Calabash’s work.”
The spot opens with a sweeping view of the 3D animated world of Candy Land where lollipops grow like trees, mountaintops look like ice cream cones and smiling gingerbread men greet you. A children’s song plays as the camera pulls toward the elaborately edible Candy Land castle. There we see the smiling King Kandy, holding a scepter made of candy, and welcoming viewers as various pieces of candy magically rush from the castle door toward the screen. From there the spot shifts to live action footage of two kids playing the new Candy Land Castle game, before returning to the 3D animation with a close up of King Kandy saying “you did it,” followed by a live action product shot of the game.
“We spent a lot of time with the landscape, creating a lot of texture and depth, as well as all the candy icons,” Wayne Brejcha, Calabash’s Creative Director says. “Our aim was to make the visuals as luscious as possible — something that would make kids want to lick the screen.”
But according Sean Henry, Calabash’s Executive Producer, getting the visuals to that point of deliciousness was a challenge best suited to Calabash thanks the wide array of talent they employ.
“Everyone in the studio got involved with this project, not just the CG team but also our designers and illustrators, everyone contributed an idea or a sketch. One of the special things about our studio is the way we are able to bring a lot of different artists together on a project. This project was a great example of that.”
Creative Credits
Client: Hasbro
Project: Candy Land Castle game (:30)
Agency: Uproar, New York
Creative Director: Dan Lombardi
Production: Silo Films, Santa Monica
Animation: Calabash Animation, Chicago
Creative Director: Wayne Brejcha
Executive Producer: Sean Henry
Editorial: Refinery, New York
Editor: Maurice Abbate
Producer: Karen Foreman
Telecine: Stitch, New York
Colorist: Fred Ruckel
Music: Mambo Music, New York
Composer: Paul Weinberg
Audio Post: Nutmeg Audio Post, New York
Audio Engineer: Rob Fielak
Web Resources:
Click here to watch the Candy Land Castle spot: www.calabashanimation.com/movies/view.asp?file=513_candyland_HSPG9011H_SD_sm.mov
Click here for more info about Calabash Animation: www.calabashanimation.com
About Calabash Animation
Led by Creative Director Wayne Brejcha and Executive Producer Sean Henry, Calabash Animation, Inc. (www.calabashanimation.com) is the Chicago, IL-based animation production studio, known for its award-winning cel, 3D and stop-motion animation for the advertising and entertainment industries. Calabash Animation is perhaps best known for their creative development of some of America’s most beloved brand icons. In addition to working on some of today’s top advertising the company has also produced several acclaimed short films. It’s 2002 short ”Stubble Trouble” was nominated for an Academy Award in 2002. Its most recent “Botnik” hit the festival circuit in Fall 2008.
