We had a chance to speak with Russian designers from "Bureau Working Title" that did a commercial short "A Touching Application" using no 3D software, only projection mapping, modeling and classic animation. The ad shows advantages of Russian navigation application published by Yandex Ltd.

DC: What is the main plot of this advertisiment? The touching story tells us about two sentimental creatures from some outer world; nevertheless, they seem to be a lot like humans. As the two plan their date in a telephone conversation, they decide to meet up in a planetarium. From now on, they get any information from a mobile map application, which tells them the best routes, timing and any other – that's important – interactive tips. They face random barriers on their way: she gets stuck in a traffic jam, he forgets to buy her flowers and so on. The application helps them to finally meet each other on a crossroad and make their way to the planetarium "using" the "street view" option. We see them as they watch the stars leaning towards each other. The story ends up with a slogan: "A touching application".

What was the largest challenge in producing and directing the project? The hardest was to deal with time which passed so slowly. Classic animation process requires a lot of patience, and the more patient you are, the more satisfaction you get when the work is done. But russian advertising is always about tough deadlines, so you have to make it really quick. Thanks to the professionals who helped us getting the shootings done in its best ways and shared their skills with us. Furthermore, it was a great challenge to combine various techniques: stop-motion animation with dummies, iPad-freezelight, 3D projection mapping and a little bit of computer graphics.

How long did it take you to complete the whole project? Making of all the stage requisites, creating the script, directing everything to its sterile fancy looks, shooting till the final cut – the whole process took us about 1,5 months to get done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcISIVoSZGQ

Credits:

Concept, script, production: Бюро "Рабочее название" (Bureau Working title) www.workingtitle.ru Director, camera: Ivan Proskuryakov Light: Pavel Ukhanov Animation: Alla Solov'eva Projection mapping: Sergey Titov and Sasha Gavrilova (Stain) Dummies: Igor Khilov Stage requisites: Alexey Petrov, Anastasia Zolotilina, Lena Shagieva Freezelight, compositing, CGI: Marina Cherry, Ira Lubomirova Music: DZA (http://soundcloud.com/dza)