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Kadir Nelson Sarah Wilmer Giant Ant A Practice For Everday Life Exhibit
November/December 2016 Twenty-Four Dollars commarts.com
BY VALERIE GREGORY
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estled on the ground floor of a residential building fronted by a formidable iron gate on the fringes of Vancouver’s gritty Chinatown, the animation and documentary studio Giant Ant produces work that dazzles with its elegant styling, crisp visuals and imaginative storytelling. The office of thirteen people hums with creative energy. The décor is spare: exposed heating and air conditioning ducts, concrete floors, prints and hanging Chinese lanterns that pay homage to the neighborhood. There’s a birthday celebration today for one of the studio’s staff—an animator from Brazil—and organic burgers with all the fixings are spread out on a communal table. Giant Ant has a reputation as the little studio that could. Headed for eight years by the husband-and-wife team of Jay Grandin and Leah Nelson, Giant Ant operates on the simple principle that what’s good for the studio is good for its clients. Its philosophy follows three rules—don’t miss a deadline, don’t be a jerk and put love into your work. The last tenet is paramount. Lounging on a couch at the front of the large, open-space studio, Grandin and Nelson radiate calm intensity. “We put a huge amount of value in the culture of the team and its creative energy,” says the soft-spoken Grandin. “It’s our most precious resource—the happiness of our team has to come before money, and that decision drives our success.” Nelson quickly chimes in: “We attract really talented, specialized artists. They know about the third rule and subscribe to that value, so they can shine here. Over the years, people
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have always said they can spot a Giant Ant project when they see it. It surprises Jay and me because if you look at our portfolio, nothing looks the same.” Indeed, the studio’s client list encompasses high-profile brands such as TOMS, Costa and Target, technology companies like Facebook and Slack, and nonprofits. The studio also creates original content: for example, Tangles, an animated documentary about Alzheimer’s disease, which Nelson is directing. Storytelling beats at the heart of Giant Ant’s work. “Great design can really sweeten a project, but if there is no real story, there’s no soul,” says Grandin. When they first started creating videos, after art school, the couple had little animation experience: Grandin had studied industrial design and worked as a furniture designer, and Nelson had majored in film, focusing on documentary filmmaking. They relied on storytelling to carry them through. “Leah’s sense of what makes a good story is always right,” says regular client Lisa Hurlbutt, communications and marketing director of the British Columbia and Yukon division of the Canadian Cancer Society. “She and Jay are passionate, sharp, hands-on and really care about their work. That’s an important asset for the kind of videos we make, and it’s why we always turn to them.”
In 2007, a quirky video the pair made about how men and women shower went viral. Myspace noticed and hired Grandin and Nelson to produce a ten-part series based on the selfdescribed “mediocre shower video.” Before they knew it, they were Myspace’s most-viewed filmmakers. From that video
Captions provided by Giant Ant. Right: “Providing team-communication software for the 21st century, Slack approached us with a song from the 1940s, a deep affection for high fives and the idea of building a spaceship as a conduit for amazingness. Mixing black and white with color and traditional animation with 3-D, we took these cuties to space to make some new friends.” Rafael Mayani, art director; Stewart Butterfield/Jay Grandin, creative directors; Shawn Hight/Yan Jamacaru/ Rafael Mayani, illustrators; Nicholas Ferreira/Jay Grandin/Yan Jamacaru/Matt James/Mathijs Luijten/Jorge R. Canedo Estrada, compositors/animators; Nicholas Ferreira/Matt James/Mathijs Luijten/Jorge R. Canedo Estrada, 3-D animators; Henrique Barone/Desiree Cassidy/Yan Jamacaru/Matt James/ Mathijs Luijten/Justin Smith, animation editors; Cory Hawthorne, sound designer; Danny Simmons, music; Liam Hogan, producer; Stewart Butterfield/ Bill Macaitis/Brad Morris/Jamie Rosenfield, Slack, clients. 66
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INTEGRATED CAMPAIGNS 1 (series) Alexandra Sobiecki, art director Taylor Marsh, writer Daniel Bonder/Dave Brown, creative directors Gerard Caputo, executive creative director John Patroulis/Ari Weiss, chief creative officers Kelly Bignell-Asedo, interactive designer Matt Murphy, editor Exile, editorial company Sound Lounge, music company Tom Jucarone, sound design Wally Pfister, director Bryce Fortner, director of photography Jimmy Bullard, visual effects supervisor Cassia Hoffman, line producer Alison Moser, project director Mark Aronson/Megan Piro, planners Shane Harris, Shane Harris Consulting, consultant Simon Joseph, producer Christina Carter, senior broadcast producer Carey Head/Kate Morrison, heads of production Allied Advertising/Birds + Stone/RESET Content, production companies North Kingdom/The Mill, post-production companies MEC/Promoshop/Ralph/The Refinery, media agencies BBH New York (New York, NY), ad agency Netflix, client “Netflix tasked us with launching the new season of House of Cards. The challenge? To launch a fictional political thriller in a year when real politics hogged the spotlight. We modeled all the elements of the FU 2016 campaign after real political campaigns. During the highest rated debate in American history, nearly 30 million people saw what they thought was a classic political campaign ad until it was revealed at the very last second who the ad truly was for: Frank Underwood. The ad led voters to Underwood’s digital campaign headquarters: FU2016.com. On the site, voters could view Frank’s platform, discover Easter eggs about the fate of the First Lady and use a digital tool to say FU to any issue facing America today on social media. People could even visit the Underwood campaign headquarters in real life—a pop-up built outside the South Carolina debate. There, people could learn about Frank’s platform, support Frank with campaign swag and even sit in the Oval Office re-created from the show.”
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TELEVISION COMMERCIALS 1 “SunnyD Rollerblade 2015” :30 “Ever wondered what happened to the kids in that classic SunnyD spot? Wonder no more. Sunny Delight rollerblades into ’90s nostalgia with this parody of its own goofy, iconic commercial. Targeting millennials with fond memories of SunnyD advertising from two decades ago, the new spot presents grown-up versions of the kids from the original. They’re not portrayed by the same actors, but they still blade through suburbia and crowd into Mrs. B.’s kitchen for some vitamin-enriched, orange-flavored refreshment.” Grant Minnis/Randy Rogers, art directors Wade Paschall/Mark St. Amant, writers Grant Minnis, associate creative director Wade Paschall/Randy Rogers/Mark St. Amant, creative directors David Blumenfeld, graphic artist Jim Hutchins, editor HutchCo Technologies, editorial company JSM Music, music company Clay Williams, director Gyula Pados, director of photography Patrick Poulatian, visual effects artist Helen Hollien, line producer/producer Keith Dezen/Lizzie Schwartz, executive producers Linda Jackson, visual effects producer Community Films, production company Brickyard VFX, visual effects company Grenadier (Boulder, CO), ad agency SunnyD, client
2 “Dads” 1:30 “What bond is stronger than that between a father and his child? BETC brings you an emotional film showing devoted fathers present at every important moment in their child’s life. With an encouraging look, a supportive gesture or just a smile, the dads in the film show that they’re not only present, but also capturing those precious moments for the future. Or wait—is that what they’re doing?” Severine Flamand, art director Eric Astorgue/Jean-Christophe Royer/Stéphane Xiberras, creative directors Martin Werner, director Isabelle Menard/Jean Ozannat, producers HENRY, production company BETC (Pantin, France), ad agency CANAL+, client
3 “Rite Aid-Flu” :30 “Instead of scaring you with the flu virus, this commercial gives you something else to fear: People who have the flu. That person coughing and sneezing next to you could be carrying the virus. And if you aren’t protected with a flu shot from Rite Aid, you could be next.” Lauren Black, writer Craig Ferrence, associate creative director Alison Hammer/Dan O’Donnell, creative directors Bryan Hadlock, chief creative officer Pete Amante, TCHYA!, end graphics Livio Sanchez, Spot Welders, editor Tim Myers, Yessian New York, music composer Tom Goldblatt, audioEngine, sound design Craig Brownrigg, director Lynn Weatherly, executive agency producer Hungry Man, production company MARC USA (Pittsburgh, PA), ad agency Rite Aid, client Communication Arts | commarts.com
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1. “Editorial design for online fashion magazine Stories Collective. The design process involved creating the layout and the photo shoot’s visual look.” Marlen Mueller, photographer; Mariana Laurenço, Stories Collective, stylist/client. 2. “Identity for Mérci, an Indian luxury fashion boutique. I developed the graphic branding for the company, including the logo, stationery and packaging design.” Kahini Batta Aurora, Mérci, client. 3. “Identity design and packaging for the Gardens Table, an Australian organic café. The design elements included tendrils, red flowers, coffee beans and hummingbirds, the client’s favorite bird. Red, green and white provide contrast and convey a sense of fresh, organic products.” Gardens Table Organic Kitchen and General Merchant, client. 4. “Personal work, where I merged typographic, illustration and geometric elements.” 5. “Editorial design for online fashion magazine Stories Collective. The design process involved creating the layout and the photo shoot’s visual look.” Tristan Thomson, photographer; Nathalie Francis, stylist; Mariana Laurenço, Stories Collective, client. 6. “Identity design for a slow life–inspired flower shop based in Budapest. When the clients met with me, they showed me a flower bouquet. I knew immediately what they wanted: a rustic design, but ethereal at the same time. I emphasized this aesthetic in the design with old engraved graphics and vintage fonts.” Wild Flower Bar, client.
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