The Client
Fesco
3D Animation
Product Rendering
2:36
2022 The Telly Awards Silver Winner
2020 brought us the year of toilet paper shortage and online content surplus, and people got creative trying to figure out how to film virtually. Psst… do it with 3D animation! Somewhere right in between “it’s just the flu” and “here, have $1,200” of the Covid-19 timeline, the oil and gas company Fesco came to us with the challenge of showcasing their entire frac flowback and production testing product lines. Easy peasy. We’ll just hop on a plane to Midland, Texas with our drone… but things escalated kind of quickly. To protect the safety of our crew and client, the only viable option was to create an oil and gas animation. And boy, are we glad we did!
Fesco is a wildly successful all-American family-owned business with an even wilder backstory. Let us brag on them just a little. They are Texans through and through, and working with Fesco was smoother than smooth.
How Oil and Gas Animations Will Make You Rich
- We show the impossible. Oil and gas equipment is complex and often unavailable in the field. Live-action can’t demonstrate products that are thousands of feet underground. Customers need to see the product and its benefits before buying, especially during a pandemic. 3D animation is the solution.
- We make it mesmerizing. Drones can’t capture the pristine and dynamic visuals 3D animation can. The trick is to simplify and stylize the story, making the visuals beautiful and clear. Better-than-perfect renders boost audience retention and brand awareness, creating memorable content.
Do you enjoy flying coach to Midland, Texas to give the same old spiel to oil and gas executives? We know the answer. Are you the only engineer who understands the tool you developed, now stuck in a sales role? Unless you love airplane peanuts and wasting time, your sales team might need better tools. A picture speaks 1000 words, but 3D oil and gas animations achieve what words and images can't:
Step 1: Script & Audio
The script is the lifeblood of your animation. Our technical copywriter turns technical jargon into a compelling story that sells your product, ensuring it captures viewers' attention and keeps watch time high.
We host auditions to find the perfect voice, providing you with a top-five shortlist.
Music is crucial, so we carefully select and edit songs that align with your brand and target audience, providing a unique track for each video.
Step 2: Storyboard
This project is a little different from most of our work of a similar scope. Usually we create hand illustrated storyboards to get the point across without spending too much of your budget too early. This is where ideas get shredded faster than Banksy’s, so we usually work in an easy to change medium – pencil and paper. This project, however, had too many variables to list here that allowed us to cut some corners and jump right into 3D land. Using the approved script, reference images, brand guidelines, and any further direction from the client, the storyboard gives the first glimps into what this story will look like and how it will flow visually.
Step 3: Styleframe
Giving our clients tons of opportunities to get the look they’re after is a huge part of our customer service. In order to make sure the project is going in the correct visual direction without blowing the budget, we make at least one fully realized styleframe to show our clients what the final result will look like.
Step 4: Animation
Now that the prep work is done, we’re ready to animate. The hard part is over, and now the long part begins. This is where we focus and bring your product to life.
You might think: the 90s called and want their graphics back. That’s fair, but trust the process. Blocking in the timing and motion ensures the story feels right.
This is another chance for clients to give feedback on movement and accuracy before we perfect it. Here’s a snippet of the animatic phase.
Step 5: Render and Composit
When the story is solid and the motion feels right, it’s time to hit the “make it beautiful button”. Just kidding, this is a tedious and technical process where fine art meets computer science meets religion.
Our team layers on several passes of renders to make it look better than real. This is the step where your customers start thinking rocks and metal are sexy. The breakdown of this specific animation is under construction, but here’s a peak at all the elements coming together of some of our other projects!
Step 6: Send it to the Bank
Play this baby at your trade show and get ready to lose some personal space and see the insides of a lot of people’s gaping mouths that you weren’t planning on seeing. With or without a podium, telling your story with us will captivate the attention of your customers and potential customers in person or online.