Circular & Co

Challenge

I set myself the task of producing a 3D animation for the renowned south-west sustainable brand, Circlular & Co. The brief was to produce a short and engaging 3D promotional video. It was important that it informs existing and new customers of the key benefits of Circular and Co’s reusable bottle range. We also need to champion the product, making it feel attainable and aspiring to an environmentally conscious and growing customer base.

Solution

I produced a visual narrative that explored each benefit of the product to best represent its features and capability for new customers. Each message was highlighted on screen with accompanying text, as most viewers consume media on their devices without audio. So it was important the video functioned without the use of audio.

I used my skillsets in 3D design, modelling, animation and art direction to create the video. 3D animation and CGI was used as the main driver for producing the video. All 3D work was designed and built using professional software, Cinema 4D.

Circular and Co is known for their sustainability focus and the reusable bottle is no different. Whilst researching their brand and product ranges, one key feature that stood out to me was how each reusable bottle is created and made from recycled stainless steel. This is a fantastic accomplishment and one that needs to celebrated. A key feature for any new environmentally aware customer is recyclability and would inspire a new customer to purchase one of Circular and Co’s reusable bottles.

To engage the audience further and create stand out moments within the video I used fluid simulation to amplify the water movement around the product. To show this aspect in a creative and engaging way, I used a complex system to drive the animation from fluid metal to the final shape of the bottle. This played as a key moment and was shown early within the video to grab attention and focus on sustainability.

Execution

Art direction played a significant role within the creation of the video. It was important to make the product feel tangible, attainable and aspiring to potential new customers. I wanted to play homage to the excellent product design of Circular and Co, so I worked with the colourways already available to me. There are four different colours within the bottle range. I chose to lead with the green as this colour is most dominant across their brand. Due to this, the colour alone was already recognisable and further helps to drive brand awareness for the product and brand.

Colour set the tone of the environment for the video. The background colour was brought in line with the product to create a clean and sympathetic look and feel that felt very on brand with the sustainable company and their ongoing marketing collateral. This monochromatic approach inevitably created space for the viewer. I was hoping to achieve a more minimalistic environment to really focus on the hero of the video, the product.

Lighting

To embelish on this further, I created a one way light setup using a spotlight. This was in essence the stage lighting. The key actor is the beautiful reusable bottle. To make the lighting feel less harsh and more natural, I used a GOBO effect. This essentially is an effect used in theatre productions and lighting design to project a shape, image or texture onto the scene’s backdrop. It’s a simple way of making the lighting set the narrative and tone. The texture I created mimics a window opening or single light source. This was important to give it a more realistic tone that felt natural and softer than a simple spot light alone, which would have appeared too harsh in this product video.

Modelling

The image above and video shown below is a hyperlapse of my screen while I modelled the reusable bottle in Cinema 4D. Without the luxury of existing CAD files available to me, or relevant 2D diagrams with measurements, I instead had to make use of what’s available to me online.

I used multiple images found on Circular & Co’s website and others I could find. These acted as a starting point allowing me to view the product from all angles and focus on the otherwise hard to see details. This resulted in me modelling the subject by eye judgement while focussing on the resources I’d found.

I would always strongly advise any future or existing client of mine that product design is a field to be considered in it’s own right and should be approached with care. It’s a highly detailed and skilled process but is an area I personally wanted to include within the process.

The best practice would normally involve having access to existing CAD models of the product or by taking 2D flat drawings (with measurements in mm) which in turn I would then produce and model inside 3D software.

Fluid simulation

Fluid or water simulation played a large part in the telling of this narrative. There were three main stages within the video where fluid simulation was shown and each one had to be presented differently to convey the message and how water may react in a real life scenario.

The first section within the video, we see water bubbles erupt from the bottle’s cap as it opens. This was art directed closely to amplify the water’s thrust. I was keen to show the benefit of the seal in the bottle and it’s capability of holding back a force of water that sat behind it.

The bubble effect played as an exciter, a statement, to create interest. The complex process of achieving this shot involved the production of dynamic spheres from an emitter object. These spheres would be propelled by the emitter and would collide with each other and the cap and bottle.

I then created a water texture using Redshift and drove the displacement of this object by using a simple animated noise. This effect gave the spheres a more dynamic movement, one that displaced its natural spherical shape and looked more like a bubble under water.

The result ended with a more engaging moment that is interesting but most importantly memorable, meaning audience members may recognise or remember the video and connect with future advertising of the product.

To further exaggerate the fluidity of the water I created a helix movement showing the water swirl around the product. This was important as the hero is the bottle. The water needed to circle around it to focus the attention of the viewer onto the product. This technique involved the creation of a similar emitter system that followed the helix shape. By exploring the use of forces, including turbulence and friction, I could then closely art direct the shapes the fluid system had begun to create.

For the pouring of the liquid scenes, I used a different technique that followed similar principles but resulted in the use of a natural gravity force to bring the fluidity of the liquid downwards. This was intentional as it naturally would flow out of the bottle in this way.

product marketing

Do you have a product or project in mind that you may wish to discuss?

Are you hoping to create a CGI video or produce a short animation bringing your product to life?

Social media and online marketing are key factors to any advertising strategy. Independant businesses excel in this area by growing a natural customer base online that is fully engaged and ready to join your mission.

Motion design forms a large part in securing those new customers and driving your marketing online. The great advantages of CGI animation is that it can greatly reduce the cost involved with creating a video. By working with a creative partner you can achieve the same output as an agency at a fraction of the cost.

If this has sparked your curiosity why not reach out. I would be happy to discuss your business needs and support your mission to produce highly engaging work for your online and offline channels.

Get in touch

Tools used

The software used to produce this animation involved, Cinema 4D (for modelling and lighting) and Redshift (for material design and light GOBO texture), After Effects (for compositing) and Audition (for backing track and SFX).