BBC
An energetic series sparking children’s imaginations
BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions and Hitachi Energy asked us to create the second season of The Journey of Electricity – a series to expand children’s understanding of energy.
Connecting with people through the power of character? Right up our street! This series racked up a whopping 853 million impressions. Specifically aimed at children between the ages of 8 and 17
the four films needed to be upbeat, playful and highly visual. To follow on from the first season, the client wanted a fresh take on the design whilst keeping some recognisable features.
Meet Khaya
Mixing media
For this huge design undertaking we used a flexible animation system, creating base characters in 3D, then embellishing them in 2D. This gives the appearance of 2D design to tie in nicely with the previous films, whilst enabling us to be very dynamic with the shots and camera moves.
Meet Elise
We wanted the designs to feel contemporary and brought in elements that attached the design to the subject matter of energy, like the glowing effects.
At the same time we were designing for motion, so we evolved the design with this in mind, whilst building a visually rich world.
Meet Darshan
The character Electron is a constant between seasons 1 and 2, teaching young people in given scenarios about how to save energy or to explain how energy works in their particular situation.
So we were thrilled to be able to evolve and strengthen this character as a brand mascot for Hitachi Energy.
Meet Yuta
Sparking engagement
On release, the series clocked 2.36 million video completions and a staggering 1.15 million true engagements – that's reactions, shares, comments and saves.
Credits
Services
Script consultation, Style development, Design, 2D/3D Animation production, Render and delivery, Composition and tracking, Project / Animation leadership, Creative Direction, Production and Account management
Deliverables
Character design and animation, 4 x 40" short films for digital, 4 x 10" direct cutdown loops, 2 x stills per episode optimised for social platforms, 3 aspect ratios: Full format: 16x9, Square: 1x1, Vertical: 1080×1920, Colouring book assets
Client
Hitachi Energy
Agency
BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions
Executive Creative Directors
Ed Barrett, Tom Judd
Executive Producer
Jen Judd
Creative Director
Ed Barrett
Art Director
Jim Billy Wheeler
Animation Director
Stewart Harvey
Head of Production
Georgie Lister-Fell
Senior Account Director
Katie Nash-Chu
Senior Producer
Flo Layer
Character design
Jim Billy Wheeler
Background design
Jim Billy Wheeler, Cat Finnie, Lalita Lupina
2D animation
Ed Barrett, Robert Duncan, Stewart Harvey, Dev Joshi, Adolfo Mendes, Tejeshwar Vasu
3D Lead
Ricard Badia
3D animation
Robert Duncan, Robert Abecasis, Ricard Badia, Dev Joshi, Pierre Plouzeau
Composition and grade
Jim Billy Wheeler
Script support
Mike Davies, Ed Barrett, Tom Judd
