An animated short film telling the story of Hunter, a visionary entrepreneur who shaped his legacy in the late 19th century, founding Hitachi Zosen Inova.
Client:
Hitachi Zosen Inova
Executive Creative Director:
Riccardo Galimberti
Executive Producer:
Pietro Polentes
Script:
Stefano Goitre, Riccardo Galimberti
Art Director:
Rachele Santini
Visual Supervisor:
Rachele Santini
Storyboard:
Rachele Santini
Design:
Rachele Santini
Animations:
Chiara Loiacono, Fabrizio Paludetto, Fabrizio Rebagliati
Compositing:
Riccardo Galimberti, Chiara Loiacono
Hitachi Zosen Inova (now renamed Kanadevia Inova) is a global engineering and cleantech company specialising in waste-to-energy solutions and the production of renewable energy and gases.
To mark the anniversary of the company’s founding, Inova asked us to tell the story of its founder in a 2D animated short film.
The company wanted Hunter’s story to reveal how he embodied the ambition, determination and spirit of innovation that still define the brand today.
The result called for a sophisticated, powerful narrative with an epic and poetic feel.
Hunter’s story unfolds through a series of events that, one after another, led him to build his empire.
We began with an extensive phase of research and documentation, before moving on to the script. The narrator’s voice-over became the guiding thread throughout the entire story, shaping its rhythm and narrative progression.
From the very beginning, the concept naturally pointed towards a cinematic approach. The setting — late 19th-century Japan — provided the perfect backdrop for a story conceived with the atmosphere and scale of a classic animated short film.
The direction follows the classic visual language of a festival short film: a journey through solemn compositions and highly atmospheric scenes, occasionally interrupted by transitions and visual passages that draw from the language of motion design.
The design is classic yet refined. The project speaks to a broad audience, so its visual identity needed to balance clarity and elegance with a certain simplicity, allowing the story to remain accessible while preserving its cinematic character.
The production of the film required a great deal of work, both in the animation and in the creation of the backgrounds, which were entirely digitally painted in Adobe Photoshop.
The animation itself was particularly demanding, given the complexity of the design, the realistic appeal of the characters and the sheer number of scenes to create.
The final compositing brought everything together, giving the short film its distinctive depth, warmth and richness of detail.
The film was a great success.
The company premiered it during the main celebration marking the anniversary of its founding, before promoting and screening it online and at numerous other live events.
The film also received several awards and recognitions. Behance selected it to represent two of its curated sections, while the Motion Design Awards named it Motion Design Video of the Year.
