Calorie Mate and Hakuhodo Inc/catch Inc encourage Japanese art students to ‘show them what you’ve got’ in chalk board motion film

Otsuka Pharmaceautical Co Ltd’s nutritional energy bar Calorie Mate’s latest ad has become one of the most talked about commercials after it first launched at the end of October.

The ad have given students, who are the main target consumers of Calorie Mate, an opportunity and an experience to create a piece of art to be seen by millions, a blackboard stop-frame animation for a TV commercial. The idea initially came from Hakuhodo Inc/catch Inc, to create an animation from chalk illustrations. In practically every school across a Japan, a student looks upon their teacher at the blackboard. It is especially an essential tool for students who study for entrance exams. The spot opens on a girl, sitting to begin her university entrance exam. As she looks at the blackboard, her life and the effort she has put into it for this very day, begin to play out in front of her. Her memories one by one appear as a hand-drawn chalk illustrations. This becomes her strength and confidence to overcome the pressure she’s now confronting.

VIEW THE SPOT

VIEW THE MAKING OF

The stop-motion animation was made from 6,328 images, hand-drawn by 34 real university art school students, as they took turns working over 2,623 hours. Each image individually created with only chalk to create life like frames of a young girls life.

In order to achieve the life-like look to the artwork, the students proposed that each and every scene be filmed in live action and projected frame by frame onto the chalkboard. The projection helped the students to accurately create the small and extremely detailed nuances in the tone and shadowing of each of the drawn frames. The scenes were pre-shot (with a body double), and the hero girl, Yuna Hirai were composited over the image. 34 university art school students over a course of 32 days worked on the project. Of course Calorie Mate bars were always on set as they worked.

In Japan, high-school students study desperately from their 3rd year for the university entrance exams. The film brings back young nostalgic memories to many parents in Japan, and also conveys a strong message to more than six hundred thousand students applying for College exams (as of 2015) – that what encourages you is the confidence that comes from your struggles and efforts, and the people who supported you.

Calorie Mate is an energy bar known for it’s great balance in the nutrition it contains.  Having had discussions on how a brand could be loved by consumers – to truly be their friend – Calorie Mate brand has surely become the role model for the Japanese advertising industry as one of the successful brands in Japan to build and maintain core fans.

Credits –

Production Company: AOI Pro. Inc.