Description:

Concept

A story of forest regeneration and biodiversity in New Zealand of land once scared by soil erosion has been manifested for Comvita into a physical object to hero the precious Manuka Honey created by the bees that foraged there.

The Makino First Harvest multi sensory sculpture is a multi layered product combining physical, digital, audio and taste elements to express the symbiosis between the earth and humankind.

The brass sculpture depicts the topography of the land, guarded by majestic mountains and holds ceramic pots forged from its clay and filled with premium Manuka honey.

Design

We wanted to create an animation to tell the story of the land and origins of the sculptural form to compliment the premium and organic nature of the project.

A unique mix of 2D illustrations and 3D elements were developed and given a hand drawn and organic treatment to connect to the natural story we are telling. The animation starts with a topographic representation of the sculpture that forms into a 3D design connecting to the final form of the product.

Technical

By taking advantage of a 3D animation process we were are able to add camera moves that created depth and space in an otherwise paired back aesthetic.

The textures are animated with a stop motion effect to also enhance the retro feel and hark back to early animating techniques.

Each sculpture comes with an individually mixed, limited edition sound journey composed from field recordings of bees and nature.

Original music was composed to accompany the animation by the use of these field recordings from Comvita's Makino land, turning the sounds into musical instruments.

Predominantly binaurally and monaurally recorded bees sampled for a harmonic bee 'string section', and the whio blue duck whose whistling call was musically turned into a gamelan type instrument through wavetable synthesis of a small section of its call.

Forest birds were also recorded binaurally (with a wooden dummy head) to create an immersive pristine sonic backdrop for the gentle animation and voiceover.

Predominantly binaurally and monaurally recorded bees sampled for a harmonic bee 'string section', and the whio blue duck whose whistling call was musically turned into a gamelan type instrument through wavetable synthesis of a small section of its call.

Forest birds were also recorded binaurally (with a wooden dummy head) to create an immersive pristine sonic backdrop for the gentle animation and voiceover.