With Blazing Spirits

A paper and watercolour world for the Year of the Horse, carried through film, FOOH and architectural projection.

My role: Art direction · Visual development · 3D and motion
Studio: Carbon

Marina Bay Sands framed by blossoms in the painted campaign landscape.

My part in the work

I developed the selected paper and watercolour concept with Isaac, leading most of the initial concept work. I then worked on the look and feel, proof of concept, 3D workflow and execution. The Europe team was led by Creative Director Manuel Camino, with Matthew Crescenzo as Senior Creative Director.

With Blazing Spirits · Main campaign film, Carbon.

A horse’s journey towards the city

Marina Bay Sands wanted a contemporary Chinese New Year film built around “With Blazing Spirits”. The Thousand Mile Horse gave the story its movement: a journey expressing courage, progress and arrival, ending at the property.

The direction had to work across intimate social viewing and large screens. Our selected route used the softness of paper, mist and watercolour, with a dimensional horse moving through the landscape.

Finding the motion inside the painting

The initial treatment established the world through a moodboard, storyboards and a colour script. The next challenge was to turn that visual promise into a repeatable animation approach.

I worked on the proof of concept and the workflow R&D, exploring how 3D could retain the texture and atmosphere of the painted direction. We tested the mane and tail in motion and used a grid pattern to check how textures followed the horse’s surface. The development material shows that work becoming more specific: the horse’s surface, the path through the scene, and the relationship between the landscape and the architecture.

Visual research: the selected ink and paper direction.

Initial storyboard for the painted journey.

Groom test · Exploring the movement of the horse’s mane and tail.

Texture mapping test · Checking the surface as the horse moves.

Refinement through material and colour

We tested a dark horse and path before exploring bronze variations. Pairing bronze and teal connected the horse, path and building. Further refinements strengthened the horse’s surface texture and the contrast of the façade, while removing the gold scroll trim and extra particles.

These refinements helped the horse read clearly against the soft environment and kept the materials consistent through the journey. Storyboard revisions also tightened the sequence into the recommended 40 second edit.

Material development: colour and surface variations for the horse.

January development: bronze and teal, surface texture and architectural detail.

The same world, three different settings

The main film brings the bronze horse into a pale paper landscape, with teal mountains, blossoms and Marina Bay Sands as the destination.

The FOOH takes the idea into a view of the real bay. A paper scroll unfurls over the water at sunset, making a path for a herd of horses running towards the property. The ArtScience Museum projection carries the horse and landscape onto the building’s façade.

The horse, paper texture and landscape connect the three executions, with framing and movement adapted to each setting.

The finished bronze horse within the painted landscape.

Marina Bay FOOH · The paper scroll and horse herd.

With Blazing Spirits · ArtScience Museum projection, Carbon.

The campaign projected onto the ArtScience Museum, photographed from across the bay.

Carbon team

Creative direction: Matthew Crescenzo
Associate creative direction: Charles Cheong
Art direction and motion design: Jatin Gupta
Lead creative direction: Manuel Camino
Design director: Kyle Nai
Project managers: Aisyah · Aigner
Art direction: Isaac
Designers: Blair · Yian · Ying Lin · Ching tong Poy