Over the weekend, Usain Bolt won his third straight Olympic gold medal in the men’s 100-meter dash, defending his title as “The World’s Fastest Man.”
Working with agency TBWA\Chiat\Day and Gatorade, Academy Award-winning Moonbot Studios crafted “The Boy Who Learned to Fly,” a moving mini-biography of Bolt’s upbringing in Jamaica.
Directors Limbert Fabian and Jake Wyatt imbued the project with the island nation’s sunny palette while managing to build a sense of conflict around Bolt’s rise to stardom. The deceptively simple flat-shaded look is anchored by elegant camera work, delightful transitions and masterful moments of character animation.
Behind the scenes
The making of featurette feels agency-produced, but it includes some great production imagery. The insights behind the character design process (around 2:20) are particularly interesting.
Early artwork shows the evolution of the film’s look. While the end product is unabashedly CG, the development work included hand-drawn line work and heavy texturing.
The team also needed to create three Usain Bolts: child, teenager and adult.
Style frames
Credits
Client: Gatorade
Senior VP / General Manager: Brett O’Brien
Head of Consumer Engagement: Kenny Mitchell
Director of Digital Strategy: Jeff Miller
Senior Manager Digital: Abhishek Jadon
Senior Director Sport and Athlete Services: Jeff Kearney
Gatorade Sports Marketing: Kyle Grote
Gatorade Sports Marketing: Aminah Charles
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Chief Creative Officer: Brent Anderson
Executive Creative Director: Renato Fernandez
Creative Director: Mark Peters
Senior Copywriter: Cyrus Coulter
Senior Art Director: Paulo Cruz
Director of Production: Brian O’Rourke
Executive Producer: Guia Iacomin
Senior Producer: Stephanie Dziczek
Producer: Cristina Martinez
Print Producer: Gabriella Nourse
Art Producer: Gabrielle Sirkin
Managing Director: Jerico Cabaysa
Brand Director: Robyn Morris
Brand Manager: Erika Buder
Associate Brand Manager: Theo Kirkham-Lewitt
Group Planning Director: Scott MacMaster
Global Planning Director: Martin Ramos
Planning Director: Abigail Weintraub
Planner: Matt Bataclan
Director of Business Affairs: Linda Daubson
Business Affairs Managers: Stefanie McCall, Mimi Hirsch
Senior Traffic Operations Manager: Judy Brill
Animation Company: Moonbot Studios
Directors: Limbert Fabian, Jake Wyatt
Producer: Wendell Riley
Executive Producers: Lampton Enochs, Brandon Oldenburg, Trish Farnsworth-Smith
Editor: Calvin O’Neal Jr.
Storyboards
Kenny Callicutt
Limbert Fabian
Adam Volker
Jake Wyatt
Art Supervisor
Kenny Callicutt
Production Art
Renee Bates
James Cassettari
Jacob Eaton
Tyler Schatz
Leela Wagner
Lighting and Compositing
Megan Deane
JD Gardner
Justin Holt
Thomas Moore
Gordon Pinkerton
Kaleb Rice
Logan Scelina
Russell Smith
Animation Supervisor
John Durbin
Layout Lead
Bri Meyer
Animation
Jason Behr
Beavan Blocker
Andrew Stovesand
David Wilson
Additional Animation
Ryan Federman
Bohdon Sayre
Heather Shrewsbury
CG Supervisor
Megan Deane
CG Generalists
JD Gardner
Justin Holt
Bri Meyer
Kendra Philips
Gordon Pinkerton
Kaleb Rice
Logan Scelina
Russell Smith
Rigging Supervisor
Rick Silliker
Rigging
Chris Lesage
Rigging Intern
Ryan Federman
Pipeline Supervisor
Brennan Chapman
Pipeline
Craig Barnett
Alex Widener
Production Coordinator
Carrie Watts
Production Assistant
Elena Hibbs
Editorial Assistant
James M. Cook
Gatorade
Kenny Mitchell
Jeff Miller
Abhishek Jadon
Aminah Charles
Kyle Grote
Moonbot Staff
Head of Production
Trish Farnsworth-Smith
Chief Financial Officer
Barbie Cannon
Marketing Director
Sara Hebert
IT Support
Stephen Vekovius
Greg Beason
Office Manager
Stefanie Riegel
Human Resources
Crissy Malone-Golden
Katie Wyatt
Recruiting
Madeline Kawanaka
Legal
Brian Cowan
Music: South
Sound Design & Mix: 740 Sound
Mixer: Larry Winer
Sound Designers: Chris Pinkston, A Josh Reinhardt, Rob Marshall
Executive Producer: Scott Ganary
Producer: Jeff Martin
Associate Producer of Mix: Geena Richard