When a spot’s been touched by the creative team at Psyop, that usually translates into nuanced animation with an element of surprise. In “Enchanted Forest,” their latest collaboration with BBDO for FedEx, a fairy-tale conceit ends up delivering a sober message about sustainability.

According to Adweek, the agency considered a broad range of animation treatments from Pixar films to the wildly Burtonesque renderings of Alice in Wonderland. Led by Psyop Creative Directors Marie Hyon and Marco Spier, they settled on something in between. “We wanted to create a world that is surreal, sophisticated and cinematic where the forest is practical with a blend of CG enchantments,” the Psyop team told Motionographer. “Our desire was to have a poetic interpretation of an idealized forest where everything is alive and has a soul to tell our story of FedEx’s eco-friendly solutions. For this fairy tale, we wanted to create depth and mystery with stylized characters and unique magical vegetation to blend them into this weird hybrid world.”

Once the CG dissolves into a practical message about how FedEx is saving forests through new business and operations efforts, the spot becomes a vehicle for some nicely paired live-action footage. The shots in this section were captured with a RED Epic-M strapped to a remote-controlled helicopter. Watch how the FreeFly Cinema’s CineStar 8 copter is up to the task in this behind-the-scenes video here.

Credits: “Enchanted Forest”

Agency: BBDO, New York
Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars
Executive Creative Directors: Greg Hahn, Mike Smith
Executive Producers: Amy Wertheimer, Diane Hill
Sr. Creative Director/Art Director: Nick Klinkert
Sr. Creative Director/Copywriter: Tom Kraemer
Creative Director/Copywriter: Chris Beresford-Hill
Executive Music Producer: Rani Vaz
Production Company: Smuggler/Psyop
Director: Psyop
Psyop Creative Directors: Marie Hyon, Marco Spier
Director of Photography: Fredrick Elmes
Line Producer: Donald Taylor
Senior Producer: Crystal Campbell
Music House: Human
Audio Mix: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Tom Jucarone
Editor: Cass Vanini
Edit House: Psyop
Visual Effects House: Psyop
Flame: Nick Tanner

For more information: www.psyop.tv/
www.bbdo.com/
www.humanworldwide.com/