Amazon Lips

2018 — 2019

We help Amazon Music push its new streaming service with this lickable series featuring some of the biggest names in the music biz. Alexa, pass the chapstick.

A Voice Is All You Need

This campaign is a fun, ‘a cappella’ celebration of music and personal expression for Amazon Music, powered by Alexa. Each spot for this series is unique, reflecting the breadth and diversity of the different musical styles. We strived for each one to capture the look and feel of the artist, their song, and their world.

01. SZA & Kendrick Lamar ↓

All The Stars

For this Academy Award-nominated song from the Black Panther soundtrack we went intergalactic with some starry, cel animation. In order to differentiate Kendrick and SZA we did two styles of lips: Kendrick was angular and masculine, SZA was softer and more feminine. We also used tribal markings on the lips as a nod to the motherland. Wakanda Forever!

Credits

BUCK

Executive Creative Director

Ryan Honey

Managing Executive Producer

Maurie Enochson

Executive Producer

Emily Rickard

Creative Director

Jenny Ko

Producer

Justin Harris

Design Lead

Debora Cruchon

Storyboard

Jigyu Yoon

Junyi Xiao

Concept Art

Debora Cruchon

Design

Jigyu Yoon

Mark Kulakoff

Animation Lead

Moses Journey

2D Animation

Brianne Gagg

Daniel Rodrigues

David Glicksman

Fran Krause

Jose Pena

Matt Everton

Moses Journey

Nick Petley

Sol Lee

Song E Kim

Taylor Griggs

02. Queen ↓

Somebody to Love

Before Rami Malek lip-synched his way through Queen's back catalog, we did this isolated lift of one of their most iconic songs. Visually inspired by the soft, airbrushed artwork adorning the cover of ‘A Day at the Races,’ we also carefully studied film recordings of Freddy's rendition to capture the physicality and nuance of his performance (and those choppers!).

Credits

BUCK

Executive Creative Director

Orion Tait

Executive Producer

Anne Skopas

Creative Director

Jon Gorman

Producer

Billy Mack

Art Director

Simone Noronha

Storyboard

Tucker Klein

Design

Amelia Chen

Olivia Blanc

Simone Noronha

AE Animation

Alex Perry

Gilles Desmadrille

Gonzalo Menevichian

Jon Gorman

Tyler Wergin

Cel Animation

Olivia Blanc

Sofia Pashaei

Tim Beckhardt

Tucker Klein

William Trebutien

Compositing

Alex Perry

Gilles Desmadrille

03. Whitney Houston ↓

I Wanna Dance With Somebody

This one is a glossy, luscious callback to the OG video — from the colors and locked-off camera to the transitions, we jumped that Hot Tub Time Machine to 1987. We even mirror her signature head bop with the movement of the lips to capture that intangible Whitney spirit. And for you dentists who noticed the over-abundance of teeth, this exaggeration was artistic license — when she hits those high notes, her mouth feels infinite.

Credits

BUCK

Executive Creative Director

Ryan Honey

Managing Executive Producer

Maurie Enochson

Executive Producer

Emily Rickard

Creative Director

Jenny Ko

Producer

Justin Harris

Art Director

Audrey Yeo

Storyboard

Junyi Xiao

Design

Audrey Yeo

Jigyu Yoon

2D Animation

Jake Armstrong

Junyi Xiao

Rafael Araujo

Ryoko Kondo

Stephen Loveluck

Taylor Griggs

04. Ariana Grande ↓

No Tears Left to Cry

What do you do with a four-octave voice that can hit the whistle register? You take it flying up in the air and into the clouds. These cumulus cuties were painted with old-school, matte paintings.

Credits

BUCK

Executive Creative Director

Ryan Honey

Managing Executive Producer

Maurie Enochson

Executive Producer

Emily Rickard

Creative Director

Jenny Ko

Producer

Justin Harris

Head of CG & Creative Technology

Doug Wilkinson

CG Supervisor

Alex Dingfelder

Animation Director

Moses Journey

CG Lead

Jens Lindgren

Storyboard

Jigyu Yoon

Junyi Xiao

Concept Art

Elaine Lee

Jigyu Yoon

Design

Jigyu Yoon

Junyi Xiao

Mark Kulakoff

Matte Painting

Elaine Lee

2D Animation

Jake Portman

Jonathan Peartree

Ken Pelletier

Matt Deans

Moses Journey

Song E Kim

Modeling

Elias Glasch

Rigging

Jing Huang

3D Animation

Dony Permedi

Jaime Mora

Peter DeSalvo

Lighting

Jens Lindgren

Kien Hoang

Compositing

Ben Rohel

Jake Portman

Jens Lindgren

Ken Pelletier

05. Imagine Dragons ↓

Natural

For Imagine Dragons we created the rugged, menacing, world of "Natural" for our 'Lips' to traverse. To achieve a rich, textured grittiness we built practical sets in-house with cardboard, silicone, glitter and paint and shot this icy beauty with stop-motion animation.

Credits

BUCK

Executive Creative Director

Ryan Honey

Managing Executive Producer

Maurie Enochson

Executive Producer

Emily Rickard

Creative Director

Robert Bisi

Associate Creative Director

Andy Lyon

Producer

Justin Harris

Head of CG & Creative Technology

Doug Wilkinson

CG Supervisor

Alex Dingfelder

Art Director

Tony Legato

CG Lead

Jens Lindgren

Composite Lead

David Glicksman

Storyboard

Silvia Bassoli

Concept Art & Design

Debora Cruchon

Ren Chen

Silvia Bassoli

Tony Legato

Modeling

Jens Lindgren

Raph Phillips

Rigging

Alex Mann

3D Animation

Dony Permedi

Elizabeth Golan

2D Animation

Brianne Gagg

Esteban Esquivo

Ryoko Kondo

Lighting

Ariel Loza

Jens Lindgren

Compositing

David Glicksman

Jens Lindgren

Live Action

Line Producer

Trish Rigby

Director of Photography

Helder K Sun

Fabricator

Amber Padgett

Jeff Cross

Kristen Meyers

Melody Palisoc

Rachel Mark

Stop Motion Animator

Dan Mackenzie

Joe Heinen

Art Director

Alexis Deprey

06. Taylor Swift ↓

You Need To Calm Down

For America’s Sweetheart we went bright and airy in a calming, 3-D garden that we stuffed with Easter eggs. From the butterflies modeled on the different artists who did cameos in the video, to Taylor’s own cat which we transformed into a kitschy, garden ornament. meow.

Credits

BUCK

Executive Creative Director

Ryan Honey

Executive Producer

Emily Rickard

Creative Director

Joe Mullen

Producer

David Guti Rosado

Art Director

Fernando Bittar

CG Supervisor

Alex Dingfelder

Animation Director

Alessandro Ceglia

Design

Audrey Yeo

Ben Nichols

Dae-Han Yi

Debora Cruchon

Drew Berry

Jake Armstrong

Janice Ahn

Jigyu Yoon

Jong Lee

Justin Harder

Tony Legato

Modeling

Alfonso Petersen

Eugene Goryachev

Michele Herrera

Look Development

Jean Delaunay

Alex Dingfelder

Alfonso Petersen

Eugene Goryachev

Kien Hoang

Michele Herrera

Rigging Supervisor

Ernesto Ruiz Velasco

Rigging

Fleming Lin

Jing Huang

3D Animation

Alessandro Ceglia

Jaime Mora

Peter DeSalvo

Tyler Lancaster

Technical Animation

Marc Steinberg

Cel Animation

Jake Armstrong

2D Animation

Jake Armstrong

Lighting

Matt Rosenfeld

Alex Dingfelder

Eugene Goryachev

Kien Hoang

Compositing

Alex Dingfelder

Eugene Goryachev

Marc Steinberg

Editor

David Vendette

07. Chance The Rapper ↓

Sun Come Down

To bottle Chance the Rapper’s flow we went with a fluid, liquidy, B&W graphic style executed with old-school, cel animation. We poured in details from his world: vinyl, cassette tapes, turntables, and, of course, the mean streets of Chi-town.