Imaginary Forces (IF) recently teamed up with WPP Agencies (Grey and Mediacom) and SK-II STUDIO to produce a short film for global prestige skincare brand SK-II’s groundbreaking anthology series VS — a collection of six animated films based on the life experiences of six Olympic athletes to inspire every woman that they have the power to #CHANGEDESTINY.
Directed by IF Creative Director Alan Williams, VS Rules features three-time World Junior Champion surfer Mahina Maeda. Merging animation and live-action to create a dreamlike world, the film dives into Maeda’s multicultural heritage as the daughter of two Japanese immigrants growing up in Hawaii’s North Shore. Torn between expectations for how she should behave, she must choose to follow the rules, or make her own.
Each unique film in the eclectic ‘VS’ series incorporates a “kaiju” (“strange beast” in Japanese) representing the inner demon each athlete must defeat to define what beauty means to them. Watch below:
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Behind the Scenes
Imaginary Forces embarked on the project in the scripting phase, collaborating closely with WPP Agencies (Grey and Mediacom), which they developed around interviews with Maeda. Visually, they sought to strike a balance between ancient and modern art, finding inspiration in the works of fine artist Ikenaga Yasunari.
Enlisting storyboard artist Tyler Gibb, the team blocked out the scripts with a range of shots — from wide to extreme close-ups — that would capture Maeda’s frustration with not fitting in, her longing to follow her dreams, and her fear of the “kaiju.”
“All of these expressions and action cues began on paper before we translated them into motion,” says Williams. “A glossy 3D look would have robbed the humanity of Ikenaga’s aesthetic, so we hand-animated Maeda’s expressions. Cel animation, however, was not an option for the detail required of the kimonos and yukatas our characters wore, so we modeled those assets in 3D, then rendered and composited them to mimic the look and feel of Ikenaga’s work.”
Imaginary Forces headed to Tahiti to shoot Maeda surfing for both the live-action and animated surf sequences. With color and light playing a significant role in the visual tone of the film, they shot at dusk and dawn, with a combination of lenses to capture beautiful golden reflections on the ocean water.
“The shoot was nothing short of awesome,” says Renee Robson, Imaginary Forces’ Executive Producer of Live Action. “Mahina’s artful athleticism and our team’s agility and resourcefulness to get those intimate shots during the surfing scenes with crews on camera boats/jet-skis was incredibly exhilarating. Of course, we had to also showcase the location in all of its glory with our drone camera. Plus, not wanting to miss any opportunity, we brought in our underwater cinematographer to grab those gorgeous underwater shots of our athlete. The content truly speaks for itself on this one!”
“The longer lenses with a shallow depth of field maximized the magical realism,” adds Williams. “Because this warm palette was used throughout our golden Byobu (Japanese folding) walls in the CG castle, the live-action and animation transitioned smoothly. The caustic light and rippling distortions of the ocean provided incredible transitions in and out of the animated world by using underwater cameras.”
Imaginary Forces brought along photographer Matt Holyoak for the Tahiti shoot, who photographed Maeda in her kimono, yukata, and wetsuit. Yasunari used these photos as a reference to paint a portrait of Maeda, which IF used as its golden standard of reference throughout the process. Designer/illustrator Ella Lee created all of the portraits of both Maeda and the Yamato Nadeshiko spirits seen within the film, which cel animator Jahmad Rollins brought to life by carefully analyzing everything from physical movements to dialect.
Brooklyn-based motion-capture studio Silverspoon took the surfing footage of Maeda and directed actors to mimic her surfing movements and applied the performance data to Maeda’s 3D model for IF to modify.
Imaginary Forces’ Editor Jeremiah Shuff created a sound map composed of dozens of naturalistic and oceanic sounds for music production company Eclectic to build on. Two contrasting soundscapes accompany the animated portion of the film: within the castle and outside the castle.
“We wanted to amplify the zen-like naturalism of the materials within the castle — creaking wooden floors, the breeze softly shaking the Byobu, the fluttering of cherry blossoms — yet soft and safe, like a cocoon,” says Williams. “Outside the walls, the towering ‘kaiju’ wave is deafening — wild and untethered.”
Eclectic also scored the film with thematic and emotionally potent tracks inspired by a lengthy list of song references IF provided.
IF also created VS Machines, a tribute film to Japan’s first-ever Olympic Badminton Doubles Gold Medalists Misaki Matsutom and Ayaka Takahashi. In a robotic dystopian future, their shared human connection empowers them to break free from their machine-like programming and cold, joyless perfection.
“I’m thrilled that SK-II approached us for both of these films, giving us an opportunity to create really innovative storytelling with a powerful message,” concludes Williams. “This is the kind of work I love to make and I’m incredibly proud of the results. Most of all, we tried our best to be authentic — to honor Japanese tradition and culture and tell Mahina’s story in a beautiful way.”
SK-II ‘VS’
Mahina ‘VS Rules’
Lead Creative Unit: WPP Agencies (Grey and Mediacom)
- Executive Creative Director: Leo Savage
- Executive Creative Strategy Director: Danni Mohammed
- Executive Creative Business Director: Siddika Dehlvi
- Executive Creative Producer: San Takashima
- Integration Lead: Nathan Wilson
- Creative Strategist & Copywriter: Katie Mulligan
- Executive Account Director: Yukiko Ochiai
- Creative Directors: Ashley Chen, Ken Mitani, Sudhir Pasumarty
Produced by Imaginary Forces
- Director: Alan Williams
- Producers: Jon Hassell and Christine Hernandez
- Writers: Leo Savage and Alan Williams
- Story: Leo Savage
For Imaginary Forces
- Executive Creative Director: Peter Frankfurt
- Managing Director: Chip Houghton
- Creative Director: Alan Williams
- Executive Producer: Jon Hassell
- Producer: Christine Hernandez
Imaginary Forces Design, Animation and Development
- Art Director / CG Lead: Jake Ferguson
- Lead Animation, Character Design: Henry Chang
- Lead Cel Animator: Jahmad Rollins
- Lead Designer: Ella Lee
- Editors: Jeremiah Shuff and Lexi Gundalvson
- CG Technical Direction: Meng-Yang Lu
- CG Modeling : Kent Floris
- CG Environment Design, Render and Compositing: Jake Ferguson, Isaac Taracks, Kiyoon Nam, Henry Chang, Ned Piyadarakorn, John Dougherty
- VFX Animation: Russ Gautier
- Storyboards: Tyler Gibb
- Title Design and Illustration: DaAe Kim
- Additional Design and Motion Testing by Yifan Hu
- Pitch Producer: Aleen Kim
- Production Coordinator: Tucker Reese
- Researcher and Translator: Sakuya Mio
- Portrait of Mahina Maeda painted by Ikenaga Yasunari
Motion Capture Animation Produced in association with Silver Spoons Animation
- Managing Director: Dan Pack
- Motion Capture Director: Peter Collazo
- Character Rigging: Lee Wolland
- Key Character Animation: Matthew Persons
For Imaginary Forces Live Production
- Director: Alan Williams
- Producer: Adam Lawson
- Director of Photography: Dallas Sterling
- Camera Operator: Zach Voytas
- Underwater Photography: Don King
- 1st Assistant Director: Travis Gold
- Production Manager: Ashley Krick
- Filmed on location in Tahiti in association with Tim McKenna Photography and Filmin’ Tahiti Productions
- Production Managed by Tim McKenna & Stephanie McKenna
- Surf Ambassador: Raimana
For Eclectic
- Music: Eclectic
- Composers: Robin Stout & Liam Westbrook
- Music Producer: Simon Elms
- Sound Design: Bark Soho
- Sound Mix: Bark Soho
- Sound Designer: James Benn
