Chicken Fruit worked with Motomotus to make a 2D animated princess, birds and butterflies for the Wishes Are Medicine campaign video for Make A Wish Canada.
Our primary brief for the design was to make the princess look a bit imperfect, like she was coloured in by a child, and to steer away from the classic Disney princess look.
We actually came on board the project as last-minute cover, so we were lucky enough to receive preliminary animation done by a super talented designer. At first, we thought this would mean we could get away with just tweaking existing bits in After Effects, but since the princess herself underwent a bit of a makeover, we did end up basically starting again.
We animated the birds by hand, frame-by-frame, in Procreate Dreams, and for the butterflies and the princess, we hand-drew elements and made them into a rig, which we then animated in AE.
Because we were a last-minute addition to the production, we had no idea what sort of project this would turn out to be when we jumped in. But it ended up being our favourite kind: something meaningful, full of heart, a bit whimsical – and featuring a friendly dinosaur fossil that we immediately imprinted on.
The full campaign video is below. Fair warning: first time we watched it, we did cry at our desks.
Wishes Are Medicine – Make-A-Wish Canada
VFX & Finishing: MOTOMOTUS
Lead VFX Artist: Lauren Rempel
VFX Artist: Serina Choi
Executive Producer: Morgan Campbell
2D Animation: Chicken Fruit
Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
President & CEO: Mike Sutton
CCO: Jenny Glover
ECD: Spencer Ryan
ECD: Jordan Hamer
Copywriter: Jordan Hamer, Darby Clarke
Art Director: Spencer Ryan, Alli McGuirk-Penedo
Business Group Director: Jaya Rizzi
Account Director: Sabrina Zavarise
Account Director: Lauren Hutton
Group Strategy Director: Elyssa Seidman
Group Strategy Director – Comms: Sarah Yim
Strategist – Comms: Vic Vecchio
Head of Creative Production: Ola Stodulska
Senior Producer – Broadcast: Dena Thompson
Production: Scouts Honour Inc.
Executive Producer: Rita Popielak
Director: tnt
Director of Photography: Mark Zibert, Erik Kaskins
Editorial: Nimiopere Film Editorial
Editor: Leah Lalich
Assistant Editor: Bianca Bissada
Executive Producer: Julie Axell, Jenna Edwards
Transfer: FEATHER
Audio House: Oso Audio
