Neal
- AI
- Design & Animation
Pricewise is a price comparison platform that was developing a new brand campaign with Alfred. The agency already had a character design in place and brought us in to refine it and develop a production approach combining traditional animation and AI.
Brief
Pricewise wanted Neal, a proboscis monkey with a nose built to sniff out the best deal, to become a recognizable face of the brand across future campaigns. The client initially requested a traditional animation approach with a realistic look. We proposed a hybrid production combining 3D animation with AI, allowing us to deliver the look with more control in the output and significantly less production time.
Execution
To get the character right, our team refined the initial design by hand, striking a balance between animated charm and lifelike detail. Neal needed to feel at home alongside his wife, played by a real actress, so we developed his appearance with the whole scene in mind.
Our artists modeled and animated the character in 3D, directing his performance and establishing the scene layouts. As part of our hybrid approach, they used Mosa to develop the environment and create realistic textures, grooming, and shading in AI, using that 3D work to guide the final images
The team integrated the actress’s performance into the finished environment. With this film, we took our hybrid character work into a realistic setting for the first time.
Result
The final campaign gives Pricewise a distinctive new face, with a personality that carries from the commercial into the accompanying still imagery. Neal’s first appearance establishes the look of a character the brand can continue to build stories around.
See more of our AI work here.
