Today we’re looking at Buck’s 2D animated teaser video for “That’s About The Size of It”; a campaign to change the way we look at careers. This is about people at an employment crossroads and features some beautiful simple, yet effective techniques to get the message across.
Good Reference Images
We begin the animation with a beautifully crafted cel animation of a character’s hands, married with some simple shape layer animations.
You can see that some real love and attention has gone into the smallest details, but therein lies the magic.
The team at Buck have taken the time to use good quality reference footage before animating, and it pays dividends.
It’s All About The Sell
What sells this animation is the level of detail that the creators have gone into, adding to areas that could easily have been overlooked. From the wobble of a tie to the bounce of a pencil at it’s dropped, your subconscious picks up on these details.
Keeping The Flow
Transitions are a huge part of this animation, and they help to keep the punchy pace. This is vital with any story as it’s a sure-fire way of keeping the viewer hooked for the duration. Here we see the perfect example of this in action as something as simple as a folding piece of paper seamlessly opens up a new scene in such a fun and engaging way.
Keep To The Beat
It’s abundantly clear that sound design also plays a huge role in selling the story here. Buck used the playfully melodic, “That’s About the Size” by the late great Bud Luckey and fitted the story perfectly to it. Each animation fits perfectly to both the lyrics as well as reinforcing the underlying message of the animation.
Summary
So beyond us loving the animations, this is a prime example of how sound design and animation work in perfect harmony.
Every part of this story’s design has been storyboarded to perfection; from the pastel colours used at the beginning, to the vibrancy at the end. It all reflects perfectly to tell the story visually.
We doth our caps to the team at Buck for bringing this into the world, and you can see the full project via their website.
