In partnership with fellow film company and friends Ether/Awe and global video productions agency, Wooshii.
It goes without saying, a senior job position at one of the giants of the online world, Amazon, cannot simply be advertised through a job site, It needs to be put out into the ‘Ether’ in a manner that fully reflects what it means to work for Amazon, and, indeed, what such a position may entail. Perhaps we would be biased in saying there is no better way to do this than with excellent video, media graphics and animation, but we stand by it.
We received this project just as we were heading into lockdown and it’s safe to say it kept us busy for that first slog! To get it exactly where it needed to be, three creative bodies came together, which had its own unique advantages and challenges but allowed us to excel in our areas of individual expertise. Ether/Awe was to do the filming and sound, our role was animation and Wooshii were acting as intermediaries with Amazon.
The Brief
Amazon Munich was looking for a new senior vendor manager. Between the three companies, we needed to create an informative and visually engaging piece of media to portray what the role was/required and attract the right candidates to apply and join the Amazon hive.
Our wonderful friends at Ether/Awe filmed the video, where an Amazon employee (Ria Friedrich) talks through the ins and outs of the role and what Amazon is looking for in its ideal candidate.
Our job was to create media graphics and animation to help the viewer visualise and contextualise what Ria was saying. With this kind of project, it is a balancing act of not distracting too much from the subject while still having an important role to play and adding value.
Do be square…
Our first challenge was to find a style that Amazon would like, something that would not interfere with or dilute their branding. With this in mind, we pulled illustrator Katie Allen on board, and we got to the idea of using basic, line-drawn shapes. Simple, but with a creative edge. The new employee/candidate was to be portrayed as a square, interacting with various other simple shapes to demonstrate the roles and skills involved in the position of senior vendor manager.
We had our style, but the next challenge came in animating it. How do we make basic shapes representative and interesting? We needed to give personality to four lines of a flat, lifeless shape. And so we animated the square to appear weightless, with free movement. This was done by squashing and stretching the shape, showing its response to bouncing and speed in the way one might expect of an organic object. It also interacted with the other lines and shapes in the animation, responding accordingly to their movement.
We also needed to make sure the square, now a relatable little fellow, accurately demonstrated what was being said. This involved manipulating it into other shapes at times and syncing the timing of what was being said with the square’s actions. This animation was then overlayed on the existing video.
The Finished Article
We are really pleased with the end result, the video looks great (well done, E/A!) and our animation fits perfectly while not being too distracting. Amazon loved it too., It was great to be part of a three-way project, work together and to see how different companies work. We were all part of a puzzle that fitted together.
By the end of it, that little square really did seem one of us! But it went to work at Amazon…
To view the video, visit : Amazon Senior Vendor Managers Deep Dive With Ria on Vimeo
Cherie Federico
Let's create something big
From a process animation or explainer video to a music video production, if you have an idea that involves video, talk to us.