The Scapegoat

We’re back with a new storybook chapter in an ongoing campaign showing ‘money can create happiness’ for people, plants, and wildlife alike. It’s Ambassadors’ sixth CG animated film created for ASN Bank in collaboration with creative agency Selmore.

This time, viewers are introduced to ‘the Scapegoat’ who is on trial for eating a flower, much to the detriment of the bees who need them to pollinate. After facing prosecution from the other fable forest creatures, it’s decided by the Wise Owl that the Scapegoat also helps fertilize a rich natural world… in his own special way.

ASN Bank was recently ranked as the most sustainable bank in the Netherlands by the Social Brand Index, and throughout the campaigns’ four-year run, has shown that the value of money is determined by what you do with it. Old habits don’t have to die hard when choosing a bank; you can instead choose one that invests in a cleaner environment and doesn’t work with shady regimes. In this campaign, ASN Bank wants to shake off the ‘right’ vs ‘wrong’ discussion surrounding sustainability and show that every small contribution counts.

“At Ambassadors, we see each film in this series as a challenge to push our creative approach to the next level, beyond what we’ve done in the previous films,” says director Nick Groeneveld. “For our sixth spot, we introduced multiple miniature sets and environments, lots of new characters, a crowd scene, and topped it off with that nice layer of humor.”

The original music composition we created for the very first ‘Creature of Habit’ ASN Bank film is given new life for each chapter. “This time, the tone is really set for the trial with darker tones, low brass parts, and a staccato feel,” says Head of Music Sebastiaan Roestenburg. “The doomsday forecast then brings in a dramatic and majestic choir, before the Wise Owl shares their voice of reason and we’re back to a more gentle tone with lighter and higher woodwinds, harp instrument, and a beautiful soprano choir, as the starting point for the moment of relief. The Scapegoat is free!”

This was also the first project Ambassadors completed in a Wide Gamut Color Space, a VFX pipeline technique allowing for a much wider range of colors in the renders. “With this approach, we could achieve even nicer looking shots with super filmic, realistic lighting,” says CG supervisor Ralph Meijer. “This is also a way to make our work more future proof, so if there might be requirements of an HDR deliverable, we are ready for that.”

Read more on AdAge.