Our task in developing the animated video for Slash was to communicate all of the benefits of this extension by narratively comparing two paths for the character: one where they didn’t use Slash, and then another after they had installed it. We visualized each step involved in purchasing goods online as something like a level in a computer game, where the main character faces a series of tests that must be completed in order to receive their purchase.

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Storyboard

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In this project, aspects of the company’s brand identity and a decision to combine traditional animation and digital cutout were our starting points for creating the visual style.

To ensure that the cutout and the traditionally animated segments merged smoothly together, we opted for graphic techniques that are easy to execute in both types of animation. These were: clearly defined vector-style shapes filled with solid, uniform color (chosen to fit the brand’s palette) and smooth, fixed-width interrupted lines.

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Styleframe Development

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Graphic style

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Тextures

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For this project, we developed a character constructed from soft forms. In the traditionally animated segments, the character’s loose clothing and exaggerated proportions added volume to the movement and emphasized the three-dimensionality of the space. In the cutout segments, the character design allowed us to create a sense of loose draping and a livelier style, smoothing out the particular features of this technique.

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Styleframe

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For some of the surrounding objects, we created dynamic patterns, adding to the “hand-drawn” feel and harmonizing the “technical” style that is characteristic of cutout animation.