STRENGTHENING THE SCRIPT THROUGH COHESION AND CONFLICT

ZenMarket provided us with details about their service and baseline scripts to start the project. Before suggesting changes or diving into the storyboard, we thoroughly explored their brand. This included reviewing existing advertisements, experiencing the service’s "feel" through a virtual office tour, and asking detailed questions to capture the vibe they wanted. Our studio’s familiarity with anime goods and alignment with the brand made the process feel natural and organic.

Once the research phase was complete, we focused on refining the script to enhance its cohesion and storytelling value. 

The client’s original structure remained intact:

• The customer, Sora (mascot), wants an item only sold in Japan.

• Sora uses ZenMarket, with BoxHead (mascot) taking on the task of retrieving the item by navigating the Japanese marketplace and delivering it.

• Across multiple episodes, BoxHead visits different worlds, faces unique challenges, and overcomes obstacles to fulfill the mission.

Conflict was key to making the stories engaging—conflict is the oxygen of storytelling. We introduced the overarching theme, "think out of the box," tying all episodes together. This meta concept was a natural fit, given BoxHead’s design and ZenMarket’s core shipping service.

We created a fictional version of the "Japanese Internet Marketplace," which served as the perfect setting for crafting compelling challenges. Each episode introduced fantasy-like obstacles to showcase BoxHead’s problem-solving abilities. Ultimately, the message was clear: BoxHead (ZenMarket) will go above and beyond to ensure the item is delivered.

Conflict examples: Someone else grabs the last item you want, you can’t access the shop, or you’re overwhelmed by unorganized options.

Solutions: Without giving away spoilers, BoxHead tackles these challenges in unexpected and creative ways.

The most significant change from the original script idea was the development of these conflicts. The key was designing obstacles and solutions that could be quickly conveyed on screen. This required alternating between scriptwriting and storyboarding to ensure the story worked within a tight screentime.

Pre-Production

Pre-production varies based on storyboard requirements and the availability of existing assets.

For this project, the main characters (2 mascots) were already designed but originally intended for other mediums—digital avatars, illustrations, and different animation styles. Since the goal was to make viewers believe "a new anime had started", we updated them to meet modern anime standards. This involved adjusting their body structures and proportions to be easily replicated by animators and simplifying details to ensure efficient production within the timeline. The style aimed for was "TV anime", striking a balance between completeness and simplicity.

Additionally, while Sora is the brand’s mascot and has ZenMarket’s logo on her, in this campaign, she represents the customer, not the brand. As such, we minimized her branded elements to keep the focus on her role as a consumer.

Once the main characters were finalized, additional characters were created to align with the script’s needs.

In this phase, we also prepared the Color Keys, which helped visualize how the ads would look.

A distinctive feature of these ads is that the first two cuts of each episode are nearly identical. Same location and angles. However, each world/episode would have a unique color reflected in BoxHead's "gravity shoes", a key story element.

The art director expanded on this concept by assigning a distinct color palette to each episode, both in the real world and the internet world. This would help viewers quickly recognize that the ads were from the same brand, while also distinguishing each video. This creative approach aimed to keep viewers engaged and encourage them to continue watching.

Production

VISUALS

Visual production includes both animation and background art. While this stage began, some design elements were still pending, such as the smartphone screen components, various background props, or crowd characters. Leaving designs for later was risky, causing some inconvenience and requiring quick creative solutions. However, completing everything in advance would have delayed animation production, which was not ideal for the project timeline.

As usual, animation and backgrounds were the most demanding aspects of the project. There is a cut where we needed 98 "BoxHead"s—easier said than drawn! And some backgrounds were massive enough that standard desktop computers can't even open the files. This is the nature of animation; it is extremely resource-consuming, but it feels like magic when characters come to life and speak.

We adhered to the standard anime-style production process, adding some unique studio approaches for efficiency. Throughout the process, we maintained regular communication with the client, sharing progress at key milestones. This allowed ZenMarket to provide timely feedback, preventing issues from escalating into major challenges later on. For example, changing BoxHead's eye shape from oval to round at character design stage was far easier than making the change after we had already completed colored animations.

While revealing the final product to the client at the very end is always exciting, keeping them updated throughout the process is essential to ensure everything aligns.

AUDIO

To maintain consistency, we decided on a similar intro and outro for all episodes, since the opening and closing scripts were nearly identical. The outro was adapted from existing client audio assets to ensure consistency with ZenMarket's branding.

However, each of the five episodes had a unique "conflict" section, so we created five distinct musical moods for these moments. Each internet world had genre-specific music—for example, the videogame episode featured retro game music, while the finale embraced a romantic shojo-anime vibe.

The challenge was making everything flow in a short timeframe, but our composer effectively synced the music with the characters' emotions and timing. Minimal sound effects were carefully added to enhance believability without disrupting the flow.

During audio testing, we presented relevant samples to ZenMarket along with updated animatics, which included animation progress. This approach helped streamline the review process, allowing the client to assess both visual and audio aspects simultaneously.

Voice actors were cast for BoxHead, Sora, and other characters, all native Japanese speakers. Moreover, the Japanese casting director reviewed the dialogue to ensure accuracy and natural delivery, ensuring the characters spoke in a way that felt authentic for their roles. 

Some voice actors were cast for multiple characters to optimize cost and time.

Deal Summary

Deliverables: 

• Character design adapting client mascots into Animation, plus extra characters and environment design to fit storyboard

• Five Animated Videos FHD (1920x1080) .mp4
  The videos (episodes) are 20 to 40 seconds long each and are based on
  ZenMarket’s approved storyboard.
  The videos include audio provided by Mar’s team with: custom music, library-based sound effects, custom voice acting lines, and a custom doorbell sound.

• Background art and design images in JPG format

Value-ups requested:

• Editable Adobe format files of the videos

• The 5 final approved videos optimized to vertical format. (1080x1920) .mp4

• Youtube Thumbnails

• Custom wallpapers based on the animation art and characters