Le Cube | 三亚丽思卡尔顿
The latest work from Final Frontier is a classic piece of animated storytelling – something not often seen in commercial work in China – for Ritz-Carlton, Sanya, directed by Le Cube.
Final Frontier制作的最新作品，是一部用动画手法讲述三亚丽思卡尔顿酒店的动画短片，由Le Cube执导。
Saatchi & Saatchi and Team One, the company that manages the Ritz-Carlton’s business globally, approached Final Frontier about producing the latest film in the hotel chain’s “Let Us Stay With You” series. The story is based on the real life experiences of a guest staying at the Yalong Bay resort in Sanya, a retired and recently widowed former Russian cosmonaut. The loss of his wife meant he was having trouble enjoying his vacation, despite the idyllic surroundings. After learning of the man’s story, the hotel manager rallied the staff to create various surprises for him that might help ease his suffering.
Saatchi & Saatchi和Team One负责丽思卡尔顿的全球广告业务，两家公司携手为丽思卡尔顿打造“让我们常在您心”系列广告视频，为此，他们找到了Final Frontier。片中所讲述的故事，发生在三亚的亚龙湾度假胜地，酒店接待了一名新近丧偶的前俄国宇航员，短片基于生活中的真实事件改编。尽管举目所及，风景秀丽，但丧妻之痛让他无法享受假期的快乐，而在了解到这位客人的故事之后，酒店经理召集起员工，为客人创造了各种惊喜，帮助他缓解心中的痛苦。Le Cube的导演Ralph Karam为我们揭示了这个作品的创作历程。
The brief was to tell the story of the man’s remarkable life as a renowned astronaut, portray his deep love for his wife, and show how the hotel brought him some comfort amid the sadness of losing her. In addition, the spot needed to emphasize the hotel’s values, namely exceptionally attentive staff, kindness and cordiality.
客户的需求是：讲述这位拥有传奇人生的著名宇航员的故事，描绘他对他妻子深深的爱恋，以及展现酒店如何为他的丧妻之痛带来些许安慰，还要体现出酒店的价值观，即酒店工作人员异常的细心和善解人意。
As references, sent a deck with emotional previous films by Le Cube, pieces like “Frances” and “Senna”. It also contained photos of the hotel and the real protagonist. Le Cube ultimately decided not to base the design on his image to avoid it becoming a caricature, though there still needed to be an element of realism to the overall aesthetic.
Le Cube之前情感充沛的作品，包括Frances和Senna，被用来作为参考，同时也包括酒店的照片和主角原型的照片。不过团队最终决定不在他的真人形象基础上过多设计，以免太过于漫画。但是整体的审美依然是在现实的基础上构建的。
The idea was to use bold lighting to create a rich atmosphere and dramatic mood. For the characters, Le Cube director, Ralph Karam, says the team aimed for simplicity and elegance in the body forms, but with enough detail to portray the age and ethnicity of the characters. The clothes needed to place the characters in specific eras and locations, starting in a 1960s Russian winter and finishing in summer in modern day China.
团队希望用丰富的灯光艺术来创造一种感情充沛的氛围和戏剧化的情感。Le Cube的导演Ralph Karam表示团队希望用朴素和优雅的基调构建广告本身，但又有足够多的细节来描绘角色的年龄和故事性。衣饰需要展现角色在不同的时代和地点的特色，始于上世纪60年代俄罗斯的冬天，终于现代中国的夏天。
The agency provided a synopsis and a rough storyboard to help visualize what they were looking for. The structure of this early storyboard was virtually the same as the final result.
广告公司提供了一份大纲，和一份大略的故事板，这对于将想要表现的东西视觉化很有帮助。这份早期的故事板的结构和最终成品几乎没有区别。
The storyboard, developed for the initial pitch, took one week. The team spent another week exploring the design, followed by four weeks to produce all the characters and backgrounds. The animatic (*a “moving storyboard” that gives a feel for timing) took two weeks, with three rounds of revisions with the agency. The animation took a further six weeks to complete.
团队用了一周时间来创作竞稿的第一版故事板，然后在整体设计的探索上花了一周时间，接下来的四周里开始创作所有的角色和背景。动态脚本花了两周时间，然后和广告公司进行了三轮修改，这之后又花了六周的时间去完成。
Karam says that, in terms of the art and design, Ritz-Carlton trusted Le Cube’s vision and approved almost everything with very few revisions. He adds that the client was concerned about telling the story and highlighting the values of the hotel, so there was some back and forth in the animatic stage. That is normal, he says, as this is when the client can get a feel for the storytelling and can help craft the narrative together with the studio.
Karam表示在艺术和设计方面，客户非常信任Le Cube团队，修改很少。他提到客户非常重视故事的讲述和突出体现酒店的价值观，因此在动态脚本方面反复修改了几遍。Karam表示这些都是正常的过程，这因为如此，客户才会对故事的讲述有深刻的理解，团队也能够在叙事方面精雕细琢。
The music, composed by Facundo Capece, was crucial to set the emotive and nostalgic mood for the piece. From the beginning, Karam thought about classical instrumental music, particularly inspired by Debussy. He wanted only a minimum of foley and external sound design, using just the instruments to reinforce the different moments and moods of the animation. To help place the story in China, once the character arrives at the hotel, Capece integrated some accents of classical Chinese instruments.
Facundo Capece创作了广告的背景音乐。音乐是定下情感和怀旧基调至关重要的因素。最开始的时候，Karam 受到德彪西音乐的启发，他考虑使用古典器乐音乐。只需要一点点的拟声和外部声效设计，全凭器乐来强调片中不同的时刻和情绪。为了更强调故事发生的地点在中国，当主角来到位于中国三亚的酒店时，整体音乐中又加入了中国古典器乐的声音。
我们在技术方面一如既往地投入了大量精力，而受到客户肯定这一点让我们很高兴。总的来说我认为这是一部非常感人的动画作品，而这样的作品我们在中国之前的广告作品中并不多见。因此我们对于能有机会带来一些新东西而感到非常高兴。
Making of featurette | 制作花絮
Credits 制片团队
Client | 客户：The Ritz-Carlton 丽思卡尔顿
Agency | 广告公司：Saatchi & Saatchi & Team One
Production Company | 制作公司：Final Frontier 终极先锋
Animation Studio | 动画制作：Le Cube
Direction | 导演：Ralph Karam
EP | 执行制片人：Juan Manuel Freire（Le Cube），Chris Colman，Gustavo Karam
Music Production Company | 音乐制作公司：Cachorro Loco
Composer | 作曲：Facundo Capece
Sound design | 音效设计：Lola Richter
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