Google, Pixel 5

About

While working full time at Glassworks I led the post production of many Google campaigns including the Nest Mini & Home Hub and several Google Pixel Phone release cycles. These projects were in collaboration with the lovely folks from 72 and Sunny and developed for European markets such as Britain, Ireland and Germany. The original design and animation for the Pixel projects was done by Buck, and we adapted and built upon their work from files they provided us.

The Pixel 5 launch featured here also included Pixel 4a & Pixel 4a5G models, so it was a family of phones and features. As is typical for such jobs there were over a hundred deliverables to meet all the modern social media delivery requirements, ranging from 30sec television commercials to shorter online spots and even static social media assets.

The graphical style followed on from the Pixel 4 campaign we’d previously completed for 72 and Google. For both campaigns the original US spots and colour block look was developed by Buck in LA. We adapted this style here creating many original animations to match Buck’s beautiful minimal look.

As project lead my role was quite expansive. I created the initial user interface layouts myself using a German Pixel 5 device supplied to me as reference. I then developed and animated the motion graphic elements for each spot in collaboration with the agency art director. Together we narrowed down the key animations that would best tell the story they wanted.

This motion design process happened parallel to the offline edit to allow for creative cross-talk. Once we achieved edit lock I then took on the role of online editor. I used Flame for the conform and exported plates for both grading in Baselight and compositing in Nuke. I do all my compositing in Nuke and use Flame strictly as the master timeline. Final mastering and versioning was of course completed back in Flame.

It was very satisfying to be so involved across the entire post process. Having worked on so many of these campaigns at Glassworks we were very familiar with the brand and able to help our friends at 72 and Sunny in a proactive way.