Tendril was called upon to create a part product launch and part brand anthem film for Ecobee.
Reference
ecobee is a smart home company that makes intuitive and beautiful smart thermostats. This year the company challenged itself to elevate its creative expression and introduce its latest innovation – the new ecobee SmartThermostat with voice control. We were approached to help ecobee enhance their visual communication and create a film to convey ecobeeʼs mission to make it easy and affordable for homeowners to reduce their environmental footprint while enhancing the way they experience comfort.
We explored visual representations of the ecobee SmartThermostat’s effect on both the home and the environment, while showcasing its sleek engineering. The product is displayed like a jewel, a dark reflective stone with beautiful highlights that romance its crisp edges.
A key creative challenge was in visualizing invisible forces and representing them in an abstract and artistic way, while conceptually tying them back to the narrative. With everything being so subjective, it was paramount that we created the right mood and feel.
Because we had some sort of simulation in nearly every shot, it was a fun technical challenge to animate these magical dynamic objects in a realistic way, even though the viewer is consuming them through a stylized lens. Simulating cloth, rigid bodies, recursive growth, branching, and foliage, we produced many complex setups and custom tools. This was probably one of our favourite projects, as we were able to harmonize our love of tech and nature.
Process
Credits
Client
ecobee
Agency
Who Gets It Done
Agency Producer
Raj Dhillon
Consultant
Megan McCartney
Production Company
Tendril
Creative Director
Alex Torres
Executive Producer
Kate Bate
Director & Art Director
Shane Griffin
Co-Producers
Ryan MacLean and John Szebegyinszki
Coordinator
Brittany Sheahan
Design
Shane Griffin, Jose Checa, Ari Weinkle
3D Modelling
Ben Pilgrim, Flavio Diniz
3D Animation
Jose Checa, Philipp Pavlov,
Marian Pramberger, Jeff Briant
VFX
Phillip Pavlov
Lighting
Jose Checa, Jeff Briant, Brad Husband
Render
Jeff Briant, Brad Husband
Compositor
Brad Husband
Sound Design & Music
Zelig Sound