The San Diego Opera had a problem: They needed to boost slowing ticket sales after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The client aimed to market to a modern, multi-cultural audience (particularly Spanish speakers), who may not think of themselves as opera goers. Their goal was to break down the cultural barriers that keep many people from considering the opera, positioning it as a fun experience for everyone.
Partnering with the creative minds at Esser Design (https://esserdesign.com/), freelance illustrator Raul Urias (https://rauluriasart.com/), we put together a series of visual candy for several shows at the San Diego Opera. We produced a full series of TV spots, web ads, GIFs, and social posts.
Our first show was “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego” (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego), a Spanish language opera with English and Spanish subtitles.
It was a delight to bring Raul’s illustrations to life with dramatic flair fit for an opera.
We produced spots in both English and Spanish, with the goal of attracting more Spanish speaking guests to the opera. (That Duolingo streak coming in clutch.) The spots were planned to be bilingual from the start, since our strategic goal was a greater diversity of opera attendees.
The Frida y Diego campaign was successful, paving the way for us to create additional campaigns for other shows, including The Puccini Duo, Don Giovanni, El Milagro, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly.
The animations were also resized for social media and web, giving them additional reach across several channels. The ads performed well, driving many new audience members to the opera for the first time.
Animating hair is a fun way to add more life to a character illustration. By separating out individual strands of hair and temporarily coloring them bright colors, I’m able to give them individual movement. Once separated out, I use some After Effects expressions to animate them procedurally. I can adjust speed, amplitude, and more from a master control layer.
The box at the top right is a joystick. It’s configured to control this character’s eyes, allowing me to easily control both eyes at once. The joystick is configured so that the irises don’t move beyond the limits of the eyes, and can easily be reset to zero.
