The creative team at Superunion supplied us with a script, 2D character design and creative reference for the project. Superunion designed Dot to match their client’s existing simple, graphic cell-shaded brand style. While this look lends itself to 2D animation, Dot needed to go on a journey that really challenged her physically.

Dot’s story is a classic hero’s journey narrative; as she travels to the summit, she must overcome obstacles and conquer her inner fears. Such stories demand epic, cinematic telling, so it was important that we found interesting, filmic camera angles through the storyboard process.

To give Dot maximum freedom, we decided to model and animate her and the environments in 3D. To add a further layer of complexity to this, part of Dot’s narrative was the way the colour within her reacted to her mood — the more fearful or anxious she was, the more her colour  drained away. Our animation team experimented with a variety of techniques before finding the final solution which best reflected Dot’s story.

Finally, we worked with Meduktions to compose an original score for the piece and recorded with the voiceover actor, Patrick Troughton.