AKQA UK
2025-06-17
The Lion Within
We were approached by the creative studio AKQA to develop a bold animated campaign marking the 20th anniversary of Future Lions, the global competition held in partnership with the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Titled “The Lion Within,” the film captures the drive, doubt, and determination of young creative innovators, reflecting the emotional journey of submitting an entry to the competition.Directed by Guilherme Marcondes, the film centers on a single character: the Cub, a young lion filled with insecurity over not having grown a full mane yet. The emotional rollercoaster he experiences, alone in his room, mirrors the highs and lows of the creative process, from idea to execution, through self-doubt, perseverance, hope, and courage.In addition to developing the character, we collaborated with the agency in the early stages of production to help shape the script. Our goal was to tell a deeply relatable and compelling story using just a few core elements: one character and one room.Speaking of the Cub’s bedroom, the film’s setting was built as a physical model in our studio, complete with miniature handcrafted furniture and props. We shot the set using our robotic motion control camera rig, while the character was modeled and animated in CG. All elements were seamlessly blended together in post-production.“Since the whole spot follows a single character going through a range of emotions without any dialogue, the acting was more elaborate than usual,” says director Guilherme Marcondes. “The audience needs to understand everything he’s thinking just from his facial expressions and body language. The film is driven by acting—except we didn’t have an actor. We had a team of animators who understood the character deeply and worked in sync to bring him to life.”
Directors
The Lion Within_ Making_of
BTS
The Lion within Teaser 1
The Lion within Teaser 2
Credits
- Agency AKQA UK
- Agency Producer Laura Minton
- Global Chief Creative Officer Peter Lund
- Associate Creative Director Arendse Rohland
- Sr Designer Sophie Korner
- CCO Mateus de Paula Santos
- Director Guilherme Marcondes
- Managing Partner Luis Ribeiro
- CGO Loïc François Marie Dubois
- Executive Producer Su Constantine
- Executive Producer Michael Stanish
- Executive Producer (Live Action) Francisco Puech, Fernando Alcantara
- Head of Production Marcelo Barbosa
- Head of Post Production Eduardo Silva
- Producer Pablo Zurita
- Post-Production Supervisor Rosangela Gomes
- Post-Production Coordinator Nathaly Lopes
- Post-Production Producer Eduardo Silva, Larissa Zazula
- Director of Photography Lucas Barreto
- Art Director Felipe Jornada
- Concept Art Debora Matsuda, Pedro Jones, Marcos Félix
- Storyboard artist Che Marchetti
- Line Producer Anderson Boscari
- 1st AD Pedro Sokol
- Set Construction / Prop Maker Tematiza
- VFX Supervisor Diego Steves
- 2D Animation Anderson Omori
- Editor: Pedro Falcone
- Rotoscope Gassan Abd Abdouni, Diogo Girondi, Leo da Silva, José Eduardo Ambrosio, Nara Andrade
- CG Supervisor Marisa Ditleff
- Modeling Lead Tiago Mesquita
- Modeling Natan Ernani, Marcos Smirkoff
- Rigging Lead Rafael Dias
- Rigging Rafael Shiva
- Yeti Natan Zuanaci
- CG Animation Lead Michael Maron
- CG Animation André Lorenzini, Camila Silva, Camila Xavier Fazolin, Fernando Chan
- Lighting & Render Lead Patricia Lobo Neto
- Tracking Renan Ambrosio
- DMP Artist Ricardo Riamonde
- Compositing Supervisor Diogo Girondi
- Compositing Artist Diogo Girondi, Leo da Silva, José Eduardo Ambrosio, Nara Andrade
- Stills Composition Ricardo Riamonde, Sergio Faria
- Color Grading Letícia Blanco
- Motion Graphics Artist Marccos Chaves
- Ingest / Conform / Output Isabela Balbo, Marco Tavares e Fábio Augusto
- Research Raphael Amário, Karin Cristina, Roger Marmo
- Audio The Deadly Avenger
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