The Idea

Grant and Ben brought their cool yet quirky visual identity to the challenge of coming up with the next big thing. As part of our long-running short films initiative, we pitched the question to our team "Can you visualise the frustrations of the creative process?" So we organised some brainstorming sessions on the problems with brainstorming sessions, had committee meetings on the pains of design by committee, and bounced ideas around about how we bounce ideas around. Embracing a minimal design language to focus on the characterisation, we created a short film which is a montage of relatable scenarios for the creative professional. Featuring a colourful cast of chaotic characters, The Idea is as much about internal struggle as it is creative team collaboration.

So if you’ve ever felt like bashing your head against the keyboard, willing a brilliant thought to manifest, this film might speak to you.

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Grant illustrates how The Idea came to be, “Here at Blue Zoo, we are in constant search for the next BIG idea. As the film was going to premiere at Le Book (a festival for the creative industry), it felt like the perfect place to create scenarios that demonstrate the pains and stresses we put ourselves under in order to come up with a great concept.

We liked the thought of using metaphors to create these unique scenarios and making the film as relatable as possible. To form this spark of an idea, we had a brainstorm about a brainstorm. The team came up with the scenarios we wished to represent - Writers Block, Brainstorms, Collaboration, Digging for a concept, being in a tangle... etc. All of these feelings were demonstrated all too well in the production of the piece itself!

Stills from The Idea

The Idea was a chance to take the art direction somewhere Blue Zoo had never been before. At its core, the film is playful and quirky, but we wanted the design to feel mature with each scenario having a minimal, pastel colour palette. This was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with the talented artists of Blue Zoo.

Audio plays such a key role in complementing the visual language so we would like to thank Box of Toys for the great work they did for The Idea.

We hope you enjoy The Idea and don't find yourself in a tangle…”

Character sketches by BZ Art Director, Joe Kinch

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You can read more about Grant’s art direction at Blue Zoo here. We hope you enjoyed The Idea!

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