Dabsy!

The Job

An iconic DAB+ character, wildly reacting to and moving on monologue and music.

My Role

— All client communication, negotiation
— Scoping, budgeting, planning
— Booking freelancers / resources
— Managing team during all the phases
— Managing client reviews, approvals, and deliveries
— Invoicing
— Collecting final graded assets and approved credit list for portfolio

The Process

Based on the client's concept sketches we would model the character. Because it's not biological we had to build it in such a way it would never deform organically, but only move (sort of) mechanically like you expect from a machine.

The grid in the face shouldn't bend with the mouth and other non-organic details like that. Also many textures including the grid on the face was supposed to be controlled by the animator to make it move/shake with the audio. All dials, the buttons, and the antenna needed to be controlled.

For this tv-spot a Swiss language monologue was recorded. On the final sound track the character was animated. One important details to know is that the Dabsy character, was never supposed to lipsync on the monologue, as it was merely broadcasting the text and not speaking it. Dabsy is a radio after all.