Chipotle “A Love Story”
Little Ivan wants to impress Evie, the girl running a successful homemade lemonade stand across the street from his orange juice stall.
Thus a heated competition emerges, that intensifies over the years: genuine stalls make room for fancy branded shops, subsequently replaced by massive monster-restaurants serving processed food and bombarding people with flashy ads.
Until one day...
Produced by Chipotle, the film was created by CAA and Passion Pictures under the direction of Saschka Unseld (Pixar’s The Blue Umbrella).
Here I’ve collected samples of my work for this project, developed closely with amazing art director Katy Wu and unstoppable producer Sibylle Preuss.
Thus a heated competition emerges, that intensifies over the years: genuine stalls make room for fancy branded shops, subsequently replaced by massive monster-restaurants serving processed food and bombarding people with flashy ads.
Until one day...
Produced by Chipotle, the film was created by CAA and Passion Pictures under the direction of Saschka Unseld (Pixar’s The Blue Umbrella).
Here I’ve collected samples of my work for this project, developed closely with amazing art director Katy Wu and unstoppable producer Sibylle Preuss.
Brands evolution
I was responsible for designing the three fictional brands that feature in the movie. Since the story spans multiple decades (roughly from the 60s to the present), the identity systems had to reflect design clichés/style of the time and growth of business over the years. Lemon Land and Mister Orange develop into an increasingly fake and impersonal brand, while Evie and Ivan’s represents the perfect balance of a genuine sustainable business.
Logos exploration
Developing pop logotypes was at the core of our design process: several personality types, shapes, colors, typefaces and layouts have been carefully considered. Logos had to be overall plausible yet not resemble any real brands for obvious legal reasons (we also had to change Ivan’s business name at some point!).
Mascots evolution
As a character designer I was delighted to work on the evolution of the mascots in collaboration with A.D. Katy Wu. The design concept was for these little fellas to become more polished and wacky over time while gaining centrality in the ads.
Mascots development
Mascots are like co-stars in the movie, so we took some time to run a proper casting session... from flags, to billboards, to animated screens, they had to speak for their brands.
Posters & billboards
Advertising supports were the obvious applications for our fictional brands: from the early handmade posters promoting innocent snacks and fruit juices to large-scale eye-popping billboards filled with junk food, they tell the story of growing competition and consumerism in the film. Billboards food artworks are by A.D. Katy Wu.
Branded stuff
...but there is more to branding than just ads: I was asked to design flyers, packaging, restaurant props and signs, buildings and food truck graphics and color schemes.
Props design
Even minor assets needed some graphic design, so detail maniacs rejoice! Office props, factory screens and signage, shop signs, vehicles license plates... Most of these designs are kind of hidden: can you spot them?
Film title
Lastly, I also took care of the final movie screen content, where signature Chipotle tag-line needed a cinematic twist. The Client opted for a vibrant natural kaleidoscope matched with a lively casual script type.All’s well that ends well!
Credits
CLIENT: ChipotleTITLE: A Love Story
DURATION: 4:03
TERRITORY: USA / Online
SOUNDTRACK: I Want It That Way, performed by Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. Produced by Blake Mills.
AGENCY: CAA
AGENCY PRODUCER: Amanda Jiminez / Jay Brooker / Ari Avishay
AGENCY CREATIVES: Todd Hunter / Tony Fur
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Passion
DIRECTOR: Saschka Unseld
ANIMATION DIRECTOR: Saschka Unseld
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Debbie Crosscup / Ryan Goodwin-Smith
HEAD OF PRODUCTION: Mike Turoff
PRODUCER: Sibylle Preuss
PITCH PRODUCER: Greg Babuik
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Kirsty Ratcliffe / Paige Sullivan
CG COORDINATORS: Joost Zoetebier / Suzanne Forward
HEAD OF CG: Jason Nicholas
VFX SUPERVISOR: Neil Riley
CG SUPERVISOR: Christian Mills
ART DIRECTION: Katy Wu
CHARACTER DESIGN: Katy Wu / Amandine Pecharman
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Katy Wu / Amandine Pecharman / Eastwood Wong / Marceline Tanguay
GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Davide Saraceno
MATTE PAINTER: Daniel Lambert
CG DESIGN DEVELOPMENT: Alex Holman / Christian Mills / David Watson / Steven Riley
STORYBOARD: Emmeline Coats / Matt Howard
PREVIZ: Adam Burke / Wesley Coman / Paul Cousins / Xavier Zahra / Aldo Gagliardi / Chris Welsby
EDITOR: Fabian Peters
ASSISTANT EDITORS: Dan Knight / Tim King / Kingsley Bailey
LAYOUT: Artur Margive / Jason Nicholas / Conor Ryan / Sara Diaz
MODELLING (Character): Mattias Bjurdstrom / Florence Ciuccoli
MODELLING (Environment): Ian Brown / Sara Diaz / Tom Bryant / Roxanne Martinez / Stuart Hall
TEXTURING & SHADING: Ian Matthews / Katreena Erin Bowell / David Domingo Jimenez / Leigh Van Der Byl / Louise Chassain / Sara Diaz / Stuart Hall / Arkin Esfref / Alex Holman / David Watson / Leigh van der Byl / Camille Perrin / Patrick Kraft / Roxanne Martinez
RIGGING: Morgan Evans / Matteo Nibbi / Giulia Dell’Armi
ANIMATION SUPERVISOR: Jason Boose
ANIMATION: Wesley Coman / Chris Welsby / Aldo Gagliardi / Cath Brooks / Catherine Elvidge / Karin Matteson / Scott Bono
SECONDARY ANIMATION: Pinky Ng
2D ANIMATION: Reuben McNaughton / Edward Bulmer / John Taylor
VFX: Jamie Franks / Colin Perrett / Kwai Keung IP / Junaid Syed / Antonios Deftarios / Guillaume Zaouche / Gabriele Veronese / Matt Moyes / Robin Nordenstein / Alice Jarre
LIGHTING & RENDERING: Christian Mills / Richard Moss / Stuart Hall / Adrian Russell / Patrick Kraftt / Alex Holman / Roxanne Martinez / David Watson / Nikolay Kulishev / Simon Maddocks / Francois Pons
COMPOSITING: Johnny Still / Andre Bittencourt / Raphael Theolade / Valeria Romano / Javier Cid / Alex Grey / Reuben McNaughton
POST PRODUCTION SERVICES: Technicolor Postworks NY
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Clark Henderson
POST PRODUCER: Anthony LaGrega
COLOURIST: Max Horton
ASSISTANT COLOURIST: Katy Gilmore
SOUND EDITING: Oisin Lunny
PASSION PIPELINE TD'S: Jason Nicholas / Javier Edo Meseguer / Sajjad Amjad / Morgan Evans
IT SUPPORT/ENGINEERING TEAM: Alex Pittas / Emanuele Tatti / Tomas Baltusis / Daffer Al-Faiadh
FINANCE & ACCOUNTING: Robert Stannett / Kendrah Matthews / Grant Harris / Eliar-Robinson Jamalfar / Kathryn Greenwood
RUNNERS: Nastassja Simensky / Sophia Simensky / Jake Parker / Delphi Lythgoe / Chris Mann / Milo Edwards / David Renton / Ella Sando / Chloe Smith
ASSISTANTS: Nina Rosner / Becky Perryman / Ronnie Mitchell / Tom Chetwode-Barton / Saskia Burke / Jamie Moller / Shane Noonan / Carolyn Figel