Berlin studio Petrick teams with crews at Prand (New York), HonkFu (Moscow), and ZHEESHEE (Tbilisi, Georgia) in this kinetic spot tracking animation styles from four decades for Russian mobile operator MTS.

Misha Petrick: “In honor of the client’s 30th anniversary, we gathered a crew of 70 from four animation studios (Prand, HonkFu, ZHEESHEE, and ourselves) and collaboratively created an animated video depicting the life of Anton, the brand’s contemporary, as he grows up alongside MTS.

“Each era is presented in its own design style and animated by different studios under Petrick supervision and guidance. The 90s are rendered in pixel art crafted by Petrick, the 2000s in the style of a sitcom series by Prand, the 2010s in anime style by HonkFu, and the present in 3D by ZHEESHEE.
 

“The visual integrity of each style had to be maintained, not only in the design of the protagonist and the environment, but also in the animation.”

 
“It was this use of different styles that led to a number of challenges. First, it was necessary to ‘mature’ the main character from five to 30 years old, so that he would be recognizable in each time fragment and style.

“Second, the visual integrity of each style had to be maintained, not only in the design of the protagonist and the environment, but also in the animation.

“Lastly, the change of styles and time periods had to be reinforced with sound and musical accompaniment complete with Easter eggs and references peculiar that era including ringtones, songs, and game tunes.
 
 

 
Client: MTS

Agency: Mosaic
CD: Vyacheslav Volkov
Creative Group Head: Marat Amirov
Senior Creative: Daniil Gudkov
Producer: Anastasia Balaykina, Artem Kharlamov

Production: Petrick
CD: Misha Petrick
Director: Ilya Buzinov
Art direction: Eldar Selimov
Script: Rinat Khusnutdinov, Ilya Buzinov
Creative Producer: Nadya Petrick
EP: Polina Fufarova
2D Animatic: Kirill Blumenkrants
Protagonist Character Design Concepts: Ruslana Mirzaalieva
Color Script: Sasha Kakora
Environment Design in AI: Arseny Popov

Segment animation:
Pixel art: Petrick
Sitcom: Prand
Anime: HonkFu
3D: ZHEESHEE

Petrick Team
Character Design: Vova Orlov, Lesha Orlov
Environment Design: Misha Petrick, Eldar Selimov, Evgeniy Yudin, Igor Lashtabega
Animator: Vova Orlov, Elena Khan, Lesha Orlov
Compositor: Misha Petrick, Ilya Buzinov, Timur Nizov, Pasha Borisov

Prand Team
Creative Producer: Andrey Nesterov
Producer: Anastasia Metsler
Art Director: Irina Khoroshun
Character Design: Nadya Melnikova, Valeria Tsimbalenko
Environment Design: Roman Novak, Valera Zarytovsky, Andrey Osadchikhikh
Animator: Irina Khoroshun, Valeria Bogdanova, Anna Perevoshchikova, Tatiana Onushkina, Milena Leonova, Daria Shuvalova, Danila Kochergin, Gleb Andryushin, Alexander Kuznetsov
Cleanup/Painting: Irina Khoroshun, Valeria Bogdanova, Anna Perevoshchikova, Tatiana Onushkina, Daria Shuvalova, Veronika Bogdanova, Sofia Galatsan
Compositor: Anastasia Metsler

HonkFu Team
Producer: Stas Bashkatov, Anton Antonenok
Art Director: Stas Bashkatov
Animatic: Ilya Shekiladze
Design, layout, quality control: Elizaveta Kuznetsova
Environment Design: Expie AI
3D artist: Aleksandr Pliusnin
Lead animation: Elena Volk
Animator: Tatiana Strekalova, Ruta Mikheeva, Anna Perevoshchikova
Painting: Artyom Nesterov
Compositor: Egor Katkov
Art Assistant: Tatiana Tufanova

ZHEESHEE Team
Art Director: Sasha Kert
Producer: Dasha Sharonova
Junior Producer: Lisa Makedonskaya
Lead animator: Anton Chistiakov
CG Supervisor: Artem Kazakhunov
Character design: Natasha Chistiakova
Environment design: Kolya Petrov
Previs artist: Danila Korniltsev
Compositor: Sirazetdinov Ismay
Character Sculpting/Texturing: Robert Kubus
Hairstyle modeler: Katya Klimenkova
VFX: Andrey Bibartsev
Modeling: Katya Klimenkova, Alena Lukina , Igor Ivancheko
Costume Sewing and Simulation: Egor Lebedev
Rigging: Ravshan Gaziev
Animator: Katya Shvedova, Sasha Limina, Dima Fomenko
Motion graphics: Nastya Berezhnaya, Dmitry Zhdanov

Music/sound design: Sphere.care rep. by NEU
Dubbing: Sasha Borisov
CC: SYNESTHETIC