SAPPORO Seibei Nakagawa
“What does it take to become a legend?”
One of my all-time favorites! I was creative lead + art director on this amazing project. It was an exciting challenge: take a handful of historical assets & combine them with a dash of stunning painterly goodness to produce a 60-second animated spot illustrating the globe-trotting 19th century journey of Sapporo’s founding brewmaster, Seibei Nakagawa.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7ff9a871f9837ca9e086f79e9f3f4320e4560fca06f709af3d54de736437932a/frame_04.jpg)
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![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/50d6e1eb8dd9bbe7b11757c32037a74b974e4e8599871242c4f3a75abbddc3ad/bottles_01.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f29b3429b5a626a4d9e74903bd26fd449a0c035799c73dc1aea89390d096079c/bottles_02.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/67f5c054d64b67538a8ef09047ed4d09053805c478520fb1523396808f77b8fe/bottles_03.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b683d60f0355a9f224b1be56eab7fb0932e3c8fd84aaa3b9a7d1e82b166872c8/frame_10.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e45af1dd30d55154527ece61b161173650bf6279f11802aac8089b27becff9b7/frame_06.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e70d2963c40d84ddb4b75233c0dd8808e2b280d2903c8781a4f94b583fa8e9d1/frame_07.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e800f6a5449e2af71dddd7a24af09d4339cb90ccf318d41bfc8f3f985133d6c3/frame_02.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eede087d9a7556e2daea094011df86bdbae997b60f72f83cb9ce00cc443e1f52/frame_01.jpg)
Process
This piece needed an epic tone that would play more like a legendary tale, not a history lesson. We pulled this off utilizing a combination of 2d & 3d techniques honed while working on music videos. A killer original score and sound design by Mark Bartels took it to the next level.
Our behind-the-scenes breakdown reveals the layers of visual and sonic detail that brought Seibei’s journey to life.
Projection Mapping
We projection mapped 2d brand elements like the Sapporo can, pint, & bottle to create 3d assets that could live in our cg world. With this technique, we were able to animate a still photo of beer in 2d, then project it into 3d—no fluid sim necessary!
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c47537bc58567d55351de776cd400c0f5906067efe2975bd4d9f1cc4752e8549/PintCan_02-1.gif)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b3527bc30ee6f3354dfbe8b43c1a8ae973a25680cbf88d04da3e7d18330b218b/Pint_02-1.gif)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b9c3111c3d5a50ced919e748601e281dbd8ecaabcc4630d54c360f2b729f83c3/Bottle_03.gif)
Adding Age to Digital Assets
Additional 3d elements were produced from scratch—shaded and lit realistically—then treated in post with heavy color correction and a healthy serving of blur and grain to break the pristine digital renders, leaving them feeling like dimensional black-and-white photographs. This compositing workflow helped Moose’s historical assets and our original cg elements to live happily side-by-side.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5247652a41214580ecb05ae5631d250370c39a6320a9c1b950478b00b743772b/n21086.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0f3bd33b6929d0719c4d0bd17a9cc026a85c3ad2777d6808949f09fc8cdda9d4/BrewKettle_Loop.gif)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/670850b669626de0160994e0e3650ee1acd83d679ba43322ac860c4e90f75ac4/Sapporo-Breakdown-4-Storyboards-1.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f5ac17d5f3f782c10af4de96d9d2ef1cd6f8303045c27d4ab2b650fe4f366ea2/Sapporo-Breakdown-5-Storyboards-2.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/deed0ca22c0378725ede4c71d94249aec39372c406431ed71f010fa06cb4f2a9/Sapporo-Breakdown-6-Storyboards-3.jpg)