Tag: Heckler Singapore

Singapore – Studio Birthplace is highlighting the plight of indigenous people fighting to protect the wilderness in a new film produced with Heckler Singapore.

Heckler Singapore joins Studio Birthplace as VFX partner on the music film, titled ‘Earth Defender.’ The film follows the story of a father and son defending the rainforest in the Sungai Utik community in Indonesia.

Directed by Studio Birthplace’s indigenous filmmaker Kynan Tegar, Heckler Singapore’s creative director Cody Amos led the VFX work. It also featured Novo Amor’s musical score.

As a VFX partner, Heckler Singapore recreated the forest’s destruction, battle scene, and sequences that highlight nature. The post-production company used drones, 3D/2D extensions, CG elements, and props to bring the vision to life.

According to Studio Birthplace’s co-directors Jorik Dozy and Sil van der Woerd, the film aims to shed light on the significance of indigenous people’s work as frontliners fighting crises in climate and human rights.

“This was the sort of project I wish I could work on every single day. Firstly, the technical VFX challenges were huge! Building a forest in CG is one thing, but getting the whole forest to fall over is completely another. We built a cool system to destroy huge trees and then duplicated them, so we had thousands of trees falling and breaking,” Amos commented.

“We also did some sad dead bird simulations and splashes, some epic matte painting work, along with creating a really abstract depiction of our hero moving on to the next life. To be doing such interesting work is already exciting, but to be doing it for a project that is addressing probably the most important issue of our time, the destruction of our natural world, felt like such an honour. And of course, working with the legends at Studio Birthplace is always delightful,” Amos added.

“We went through a really intense process with the community, doing multiple community meetings, where the whole project was openly discussed. As filmmakers, we’re used to having a certain degree of control, but working outdoors with a large community taught us to let go and flow with the moment. When it rained or the river flooded, we adapted. Everything given by the actors – who are all people from the Sungai Utik community – we considered a gift. It brought a beautiful unpredictability,” Dozy said.

“A full month we spent mostly disconnected from the internet, taking our morning showers in the river and spending our evenings on the comfortable wooden floors of the longhouse, amidst the community. We learned so much, not just as filmmakers, but spiritually too, as we started to see how incredibly far our individualistic Western culture has drifted away from living in harmony with the natural world. In a way, we became students, learning what it means to be Indigenous,” Sil added.

“This film is about the very real problems that exist within our world, the criminalisation and the murder of Earth Defenders. Indigenous Peoples that fought for their land, their forests, their rivers, and gave the biggest sacrifice, which is their life. There are communities whose whole livelihood was taken from them,” Tegar commented.

“The very part of their identity, which is the nature surrounding them, taken from them, ripped away. That’s a story that rang very close to home for me. That’s the story that we want to convey,” Tegar concluded.

Singapore – Creative studio Heckler Singapore has promoted Xinhui Zheng as head of production to boost its production team.

Zheng was previously the senior VFX producer at the company. She joined the company in 2019 as one of the first employees of Heckler Singapore.

Bringing more than a decade of experience, Zheng helped the company in leading VFX projects. She was at the helm of producing 2D and 3D animation for a global skincare brand, solidifying her position as a trusted partner.

Zheng has produced campaigns for Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore, BBH Singapore, Digitas, Prodigious, Media Arts Lab, Ogilvy WW, and Studio Birthplace. This includes campaigns for brands such as Riot Games, Nike, Samsung, Apple, Fanta, Greenpeace, Jeshi and SK-II.

“Xin’s promotion to head of production is a no-brainer. Our producers really trust and look up to her and she is someone I can always rely on to step up and dig deep when needed. With Heckler Singapore all grown up now (we turned five this year!), I’m grateful to have Xin at the helm overseeing the department. In her new role, Xin will work closely with myself and the artists to manage workflow, plan resources and streamline production,” Charu Menon, managing director at Heckler Singapore, said.

“She has always fostered great client relationships because she goes above and beyond to deliver top-notch, quality work. In some agencies, that has earned her the nickname ‘Amay-Xin!’” Menon added.

Zheng commented, “It’s a massive honour to take on this new role, especially when I think about the calibre of talent we have in Heckler SG. I guess I’m just going to have to put on my big boy pants and try not to mess it up!”

Singapore – Heckler Singapore has unveiled the new animated identity for Toyota House, an inclusive mobility park located just blocks from the Eiffel Tower, in collaboration with agency Octagon UK.

Designed by Heckler Singapore’s design director Danielle Melianti, Toyota House’s new animated identity depicts the movement and synchronicity of elite athletes.

Tasked with creating an animation that was thoughtful, fluid, and approachable, Melianti aimed to craft a design that was both instantly recognisable as part of the Olympic Games and visually captivating.

“It was important that our spotlighted athletes had strong, sharp, purposeful movements—a representation of these worldclass sporting elites, coupled with an emotive soundscape that elevates their movement,” Melianti explained. 

To achieve a more refined and deliberate approach, Melianti and the animation team moved away from cluttered, simultaneous design elements, opting instead for standalone motion pieces that felt more purposeful.

“For example, we have a mountain biker that gently bounces up and down on the top of the mountain but stays stationary and a swimmer diving into the water whose actions seamlessly repeat,” she elaborated. 

Melianti added, “The background—including athletic equipment, Parisian landmarks, and the line work—also incorporated subtle movement such as background ripples and vibrations, or elements such as the lift moving up and down on the Eiffel Tower.”

Toyota House is a five-stage immersive experience located at The New Cap Centre in Paris, showcasing a range of innovative solutions that highlight Toyota’s commitment to inclusive mobility.

Singapore – Heckler Singapore has embarked on its first venture into long-form storytelling with the release of ‘Momentum,’ a six-part documentary series commissioned by Bloomberg as part of its Bloomberg Originals lineup.

‘Momentum’ takes viewers on a captivating journey through Asia’s rapidly evolving economic landscape, where technology, sports, entertainment, and culture converge. The series dives deep into the core of markets and narratives that are driving the region’s transformation.

For this documentary, Heckler collaborated closely with the Bloomberg Originals team from research and scripting through production and post-production, bringing the series to life at every stage.

Produced by Jasmine Tay and hosted by Haslinda Amin, Bloomberg’s chief correspondent for Southeast Asia, the documentary explores a diverse range of topics, from India’s emerging role in the international space race and Korea’s architectural renaissance to Japan’s AI-powered robotics revolution and Singapore’s vision as a future-ready city, as well as the forward momentum of Japan’s semiconductor technology.

Tay and Singaporean director June Cheong led an all-female powerhouse team that brought Momentum to life, filming across nine cities over seven months. Together, the duo overcame typhoons, earthquakes, cancelled flights, and crew health challenges to complete the whirlwind series.

With Tay’s background in narrative production and Heckler Singapore’s expertise in CG and VFX, the team elevated the series by crafting a fresh visual language that perfectly aligned with the director’s vision.

Commenting on her experience, Cheong shared, “Jasmine is the Dana Scully to my Fox Mulder, the Abed to my Troy, the Samwise Gamgee to my Frodo Baggins. Like all great producers, she tempered my flights of imagination with her voice of reason. She also believed in my directorial vision and came armed with an open mind, a keen eye for logistics, and a genuine dedication to making this project the best it could be.”

“We encountered many surprises, hiccups, and last-minute changes on the shoot, but Jasmine handled all these production setbacks with equanimity,” she added. 

Meanwhile, Tay expressed, “This is my first time working with June, and it was quite the ride! Her passion for the project was like a caffeine boost for the whole team—impossible to ignore. She’s an extremely hard-working writer/director; always diving into the details and pushing for that extra bit of magic in every episode.”

“While she occasionally drove us to the brink with her relentless pursuit of perfection, it was all in the name of making the show shine,” Tay continued. 

Tay further emphasised the unique challenges and skillset transfer involved in producing both short- and long-form content, noting that ‘Momentum’ offered an ideal opportunity to apply her expertise across both formats.

“Producing for short form/TVC projects is a sprint, and long form storytelling is a marathon, and whilst both have their challenges and opportunities, each leans into skills that complement the other. Ultimately, it really comes down to managing people, being economical with your shots, and adhering to tight schedules,” she explained. 

The first episodes of Momentum are now available for viewing, with additional episodes scheduled to be released over the coming month.

Singapore – Fanta, the popular soft drink brand from The Coca-Cola Company, has teamed up with Heckler Singapore for the fifth installment of its #WhatTheFanta campaign, inviting fans to embark on a nostalgic journey of flavours and a vibrant 90s-themed experience.

Created by Heckler Singapore in collaboration with Ogilvy APAC and the directing duo Henri & Sebastian of Simon & Paul, this wild and wacky spot challenges viewers to guess Fanta’s new mystery flavours while immersing them in a nostalgic whirlwind of cassette tapes, flip phones, vintage Fanta ads, and 90s video game references.

The campaign film features real-world talents transformed into 2D characters, skating, jumping, and leaping through a vibrant retro-remix Fanta world filled with exploding fruits and UFOs, blending dynamic animation with playful nostalgia.

Heckler Singapore partnered with Indonesia-based illustrator and motion designer Ardhira Putra to reimagine his signature hyper-coloured, funky 90s universe by incorporating vibrant 2D cel-animated elements. This collaboration brought a fresh twist to Ardhira’s distinctive style, blending nostalgia with dynamic animation for the campaign film.

Xinhui Zheng, senior VFX producer at Heckler Singapore, shared, “This was a super fun piece for the whole team! With Ardhira’s world set up in a 3D space, it gave us the liberty to really push the limits of how dynamic we can get with the camera angles and movements for our base environment plates. Then throw in our 2D cel-animation partners Frederick Venet and CRUX to the mix, and it’s pretty much a guaranteed wild and zany masterpiece.”

Singapore – To mark International Biodiversity Day, global campaigning network Greenpeace has just dropped a cinematically powerful music video, MoneyTrees, in collaboration with rap artist GreedyBoy, that acts as a wakeup call to end the corporate destruction of nature.

Set to the pulsating beat of GreedyBoy’s specially composed track, Heckler Singapore joined forces as VFX partner on the striking video produced by Studio Birthplace – a Singapore-based creative agency focused exclusively on planet-positive projects.

The ‘MoneyTrees’ music video aims to expose the absurdity of how unregulated banks pour billions in investment into the big corporations that are destroying our planet’s natural habitats.

Led by Heckler Singapore creative director Cody Amos, the VFX team got to work setting the forest on fire. They also created some of the forest environment, including a few CG trees and wood embers, along with compositing the eye-catching fire elements that star heavily in the video.

Opening on a disturbing scene of profit-driven bankers destroying a rainforest with their chainsaws, the visuals then flip to the rainforest and bankers’ boardroom scene being engulfed in a frenzy of embers and flames. 

In portraying the forest destruction caused by bankers and corporations, it was crucial to Greenpeace and the creative team that no trees were harmed during filming. The film location features two giant trees that had recently been floored by a storm, creating a natural ‘destruction’ site.

Charu Menon, managing director and executive producer at Heckler Singapore, said, “I think the work Studio Birthplace are doing is essential – as their motto so succinctly puts it, they truly are telling the earth’s most urgent stories. It was a privilege to come on board as a VFX partner. The visual metaphor of a forest fire raging and almost engulfing a board meeting is chilling and unforgettable. The hyperbolic performances and the music track elevate the film.

Singapore – Riot Games has partnered with Digitas Singapore, a networked experience agency under Publicis Groupe, and Heckler Singapore, a video production studio, to launch an animated music video featuring the girl group XG for its anticipated VALORANT Champions Tour Pacific.

Titled ‘Undefeated’, the captivating animated music video serves as a prelude to the upcoming VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Pacific, which is a key event in the esports calendar. 

The VCT Pacific showcases top-tier competitive gaming and teams from across the Asia-Pacific region, highlighting the strategic gameplay and strong community connections that have made Riot’s popular video game Valorant a global sensation.

Undefeated is a collaborative project by Riot Games, the developers of VALORANT, XG, Digitas Singapore, and Heckler Singapore. Digitas led the conceptualization and creative direction for the project. Together, the teams meticulously crafted over 80 shots featuring ten distinct cityscapes, seamlessly blending intricate 3D environments with hand-drawn cell animation. 

In this new music video, an animated universe unfolds in a culturally vibrant setting, urging individuals to defy fate and shape their own destinies. Drawing inspiration from the region’s fascination with fortune-telling, the video follows a protagonist who, despite being advised by a fortune teller to accept a bleak fate, chooses to fight against the forces of nature with the support of teammates.

Combining gaming and music, ‘Undefeated’ reflects the resilience and courage that the VALORANT Champions Tour Pacific seeks to embody. This makes the music video a dynamic promotional tool for the upcoming esports tournament series in South Korea.

Dee Reyes, creative director at Digitas Singapore, shared, “When we crafted the storyline for this year’s VCT Pacific music video, we needed a partner to breathe life into our vision. We were committed to delivering a concept that resonated with VALORANT players and gamers, as well as VCT Pacific and XG fans alike. Cody and the Heckler team attended to every detail we outlined, showcasing unparalleled dedication and excellence.”

Cody Amos, creative director at Heckler, also added, “A key aspect of the project was finding the perfect aesthetic—a visually captivating world with subtle nods to familiar landscapes yet imbued with a distinct, alternate reality. Together with Digitas Singapore, we delved into the intricacies of the storyline, refining the narrative arc to encapsulate themes of friendship, resilience, and triumph.”

Singapore – Grab and Heckler Singapore has recently launched their latest sustainability campaign via BLKJ Havas, which brings a trio of finger characters to life and showcases how a mere tap of the digits can empower eco-friendly choices. 

Aimed at raising awareness among consumers about the significant impact their choices can make, Grab’s ‘Wonder Fingers’ campaign with Heckler Singapore showed that scrolling through our phones could be used for better things like tapping for good.

For this campaign, Heckler got to work using Maya and Cinema4D on three short animated films and assets for a personalised digital report, termed the Grab Personal Impact Story, to showcase the positive outcomes of using Grab.

For the environment, Heckler chose to build backgrounds in 3D that looked like they were made of paper. This aesthetic gave the films a playful base to set the action in, along with some intriguing textures. By modelling and rigging photorealistic human fingers to represent different ethnicities and backgrounds, Heckler also gave them human-like characteristics, including playful eyes that used expressions to communicate the impact the fingers were having.

Cody Amos, creative director at Heckler Singapore, admitted that dressing the fingers up was a challenge as the animation team had to re-imagine them as a full human body in order to know where the cut of a tank top would end or where the hem of a skirt would begin.

“The finger characters themselves were modelled in Maya to look realistic, but with googly eyes and stuck on mouths that we animated to bring their emotions to life. All this detail made it feel halfway between a fun animated film and a puppet show,” Amos said. 

“Because the characters are fingers, we wanted to build the world around them in a way that felt like a miniature set that finger puppets could live in. To give it realism, and add some humour, we made it all look like it was made of paper and cardboard, and even put in flying elements on popsicle sticks, held together with sticky tape,” he added. 

Notably, these simple taps on screens using Grab have contributed to diverting over 8,100 tonnes of waste from landfills and the planting of 200,000 trees, bolstering forest conservation efforts across Southeast Asia.