The goal was to create a dance choreography that could easily live on social media, while keeping the animals—the product—front and center. Fun, playful interactions were essential. From shaping the initial idea to producing and directing the live-action shoot, and finally creating a colorful, full CG underwater world, this project was a true hands-on experience from start to finish.
For the live-action shoot, Nebula built a physical set where the child could appear to dive into a magical ocean book. Since diving into books isn’t exactly possible, careful set design and invisible VFX were used to make the transition seamless and believable. Planning on set and in post was key to selling the illusion.
The underwater world was designed as a painterly mix of 2D and 3D styles. We created multiple 3D characters based on the brand’s plush toys, along with the main child character. To keep the environments flexible, I built a procedural flora system that allowed us to quickly reshape the terrain while automatically populating details—from small shells to flowing algae—giving us full creative control throughout production.
Live action Backplate with tracked CG elements on top.
Initial previz/layout – we made a simple 3D version of the live action shot, plus and all the amazing choreography created by Daniela González
Edit with main animation, before adding the set. A system was developed for both hair and clothes to be dynamic and art directable as desired.
