Toronto animation studio Blame Your Brother wades deep into the tide of holiday spots with a soft touch and welcome message in this two-minute charmer for Colgate via Seattle prodco Anchor Point and Red Fuse Communications.

Anchor Point EP Mike Holm: “The project began with a beautiful script from Colgate and our agency partners at Red Fuse. The goal was to bring to life an emotive, heartfelt film for Colgate that demonstrated the power of a smile.

“Blame Your Brother creatives Darren and Geoff Donovan spearheaded the design and animation direction with the difficult task of developing dozens of unique characters, scenes, and backgrounds.

“Challenged to create a style that felt both timeless and modern, they combined classic two-dimensional frame by frame animation with atmospheric lighting, filmic compositions, and depth of field that immerses the viewer in the story.

“In pre-production each and every character was assigned his or her own story to help create cohesive storytelling, authenticity, and a world that is accessible.

“The script was refined numerous times throughout market testing, which posed challenges to the integrity of the story, but through close collaboration between production and agency, we were able to retain the warmth, charm, and emotion through each round and iteration.

“From start to finish this project was close to the hearts of everyone involved.”
 

Client: Colgate-Palmolive, Red Fuse Communications
Global CCO, : Fred Saldanha, Colgate-Palmolive, Red Fuse Communications
Executive Creative Director: Sean Burns, Colgate-Palmolive, Red Fuse Communications
Creative Director: Brandon McCoy, Colgate-Palmolive, Red Fuse Communications
Associate Creative Director: Jay Machain, Colgate-Palmolive, Red Fuse Communications
Senior Producer: Andrea Rodriguez, Red Fuse Communications

Production: Anchor Point
Director: Blame Your Brother
Executive Producer: Mike Holm
Storyboard: Chad Hicks
Editor: Tom Berger
Creative/Art Direction: Blame Your Brother
Layout Design: Rob Bryson
Production Design: Aaron Hong
Background Painters: Aaron Hong, Parker Bryant, Eric Gauthier, Grace Yoo, Michele Assarasakorn, Martin Smith, Tracy Munch, Geoff Donovan
Character Design: Amanda Martin, Darren Donovan
Rough Posing: Amanda Martin, Ruggiero Abbruzzese, Haley Rose, Darren Donovan.
Posing Cleanup: Darren Donovan
Animation Director: Darren Donovan
Rough Animation: Gerry Duchemin, Katherine Pryor, Sarah Baril, Alejandro Reyes, Nicole Kozak, Sean Branigan, Darren Donovan
Cleanup Animation: Nicole Kozak, Darren Donovan, Brentton Barkman, Michelle Tripp
2DFX Animation: Darren Donovan
Visual FX/Compositing: Sheldon Lisoy
Color Edit/Titles: Phil Scarano

Sound Design/Music: Postier Studio Inc.