Following stints at Buck, the Google Creative Lab, and riding his bicycle across Europe, Ege Soyuer is back, this time with his new piece for Refinery 29 and Chloe. As with anything Ege makes, I found myself immediately intrigued by the look and feel of The History of Smelling Good. To my surprise, the more I found out about the project the more intrigued I became. Not only is this a wonderful example of 2D animation and design but also a wonderful example of an independent direct-to-client animation that was produced entirely remotely with an amazing team.
With results like these, maybe there is something to the idea of the remote studio after all!
From Ege:
This was an unconventional project from the beginning: direct-to-client, an entirely flesh-tone color palette, no studio, no agency, and a crazy timeline. Refinery29 approached me to create cross-branded content for the French fashion house, Chloe. The script was an ever-changing document that we developed with Angela Sumner of R29, who was a great point of contact: supportive, responsive, and open to unconventional workflows. I lead a rag-tag team of superstar designers and animators working remotely from across the US. I had the pleasure of working with some of the most talented people in the business, many of whom I had met during my time at Buck. For the most part, not a single one of us was in the same room at the same time. Our team was spread across LA, Boston, Philly, and NYC, using Dropbox as our server. The piece was definitely an exercise in decentralization of production, and a lot of fun!
CREDITS
Client / Refinery 29:
CREATIVE DIRECTOR:
Angela Sumner
WRITER:
Meredith Gray
SOUND DESIGN:
Brandon Sentnor
Film Credits:
DIRECTOR, PRODUCER:
Ege Soyuer
STORYBOARDS:
Ege Soyuer, Justin Lawes
DESIGN:
Ege Soyuer, Joshua Harvey, Tuna Bora, Jimmy Simpson, Sab Sesay, Courtney Wirthit
CEL ANIMATION:
Nivedita Sekar, Nick Petley, Eric Ko
2D ANIMATION & COMPOSITE:
Ege Soyuer, Jimmy Simpson, Eric Ko, Nick Petley