Initial Ideas and Rough Sketches for 'Dream Green Smoothies'

Dan Hodgson

Our initial brainstorming sessions took place prior to meeting with the client, as such these early ideas were only loosely connected to the product. While this gave us the freedom to run with any thoughts that came to mind, ideas were limited in terms of not being aware of information such as target audience and cost etc.
From our meeting with the client, my interpretation of what we should be aiming for is something which: is not too formal; explains the product's effect on health (particularly digestion); appeals to the sports market; and highlights the organic nature of the product. In this post I've included some of my basic sketches from our brainstorming sessions, along with some more refined concepts for two ideas which we feel could be taken forward.

Rough Initial Storyboard

Simple Line Animation

This idea uses minimalism to convey the use of pure, natural ingredients in Dream Green's smoothies. We have discussed several possibilities as to how this style could be applied to a narrative. For example, as the line is being drawn across the screen, a voice over might summarise the general ethos of Dream Green, before going on to list the ingredients of a particular smoothie - which would emerge from the line when mentioned, as in the example below. A second line may then appear forming a cup, into which the ingredients merge before popping to reveal a photo of a real Dream Green smoothie, similarly to the way the apple pops into the video. For the video below I used Flash to animate the line, composited over stop-motion paper in After Effects, as this was simply the fastest method. However we came up with several ways this could be executed including the use of a whiteboard to animate the line through stopmotion and using claymation for text. The use of a voice over which only needs to be loosely synced to footage allows any information to be conveyed without necessarily having to produce accompanying visuals, however too much voice over could lead to a result which is less dynamic than having a fully animated narrative.

Rough Initial Sketch

Fruit at the Gym

This idea is more focused on the target audience than the previous idea,  however the style is informal enough to still appeal to a relatively broad demographic. The scenario immediately establishes a relationship between Dream Green smoothies and sport/exercise; concisely summarising the principle that these drinks are designed to help you stay healthy. A voice over would still be used to convey more detailed product information, although this time through the medium of a ruthless gym instructor barking orders at fruit, explaining why it's important to stay healthy for example. The sketch on the left shows how the general scene would be set, with various fruits and vegetables - all of which would be ingredients of a smoothie - working out on a kitchen counter while the instructor peers over. Eventually the fruit would begin to fly off gym equipment and break themselves up to the point that they all get squashed together - at which point the instructor tastes the resulting smoothie, commenting on it's deliciousness. We discussed the concept of using stop motion animation incorporating real fruit as puppets, however this could turn out to be too similar to the 'Violent Veg' series of greetings cards. Below is a piece of concept art I produced for this idea, giving a more detailed insight as to how I picture this idea.