Aurobay – ‘ZEE’

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images (from top left): 1: Visual style exploration. 2: Animation storyboard.

Aurobay is a car engine manufacturer and was originally part of Volvo. Their vision is to ‘re-imagine motion’ through sustainable solutions that allow everyone to reach net-zero as soon as possible.

They know there is a big challenge in convincing the world that electrification may not be the only answer: globally, not all societies will be ready, and potentially, there may not be enough raw materials. That’s why they are developing ‘ZEE’ – the Zero Emission Engine: a combustion engine made from recycled materials and powered by biofuel, with the same emissions as an electric vehicle.

The brief was to help open eyes and minds to this idea: to find a simple and engaging way to explain the complex, to challenge the negative perceptions of ‘dirty’ combustion engines, and to show we need other ways to solve our future mobility needs.

Our solution was to develop an engaging narrative built around the concept of ‘imagine if…’ and turn that into a short video animation. We wanted to take people on a journey, so we literally did just that, with a vehicle representation that moves through our story as it changes from the here and now to where Aurobay can take us. I started with an initial line-drawing storyboard inspired by conceptual drawings, and engineering blueprints but also taking the idea of a car and its journey from mobile games such as ‘Alto’s Adventure’. I explored several different ‘looks’ for the final animation, but the client kept returning to this simple black and white visual look that fit so well with the message and their brand. The final video had to work across a range of final uses – from websites to large exhibitions and social media, both with and without a voice-over.