Pre-Production

Concept & Scripting

The Chariot Energy animation was built to do what most energy messaging can’t—turn a complex, unconventional solar model into a clear, compelling story. Everything centered on a single, sticky idea: “100% solar power, no panels on your home.” That line didn’t just shape the message—it set the tone, structured the flow, and guided every creative decision that followed. From start to finish, the video had to balance bold brand positioning with system-level transparency and a frictionless customer journey—all inside a fast, visual-first framework.

We worked through a collaborative scripting process, crafting a VO-driven story arc built around transformation. It starts from the customer’s point of view—power showing up in a typical home—and then works backward through the infrastructure to show where that energy actually begins. By inverting the sequence, we made the invisible feel intuitive: power to home, to grid, to solar farm, to manufacturing, to raw materials—then flipped that sequence forward again to follow the energy in real time.

Client messaging pillars like “no rooftop panels,” “low solar prices,” and “no middleman” were baked into the scripting as on-screen callouts. These weren’t just copy points—they functioned as beat markers for animation timing. Key phrases like “we build massive solar farms” and “you don’t need panels on your roof” were visualized directly, using custom-built isometric scenes. 

We locked in an abstracted 3D isometric style from the beginning. It let us strip out unnecessary detail while keeping the scenes realistic enough to inform and educate. That visual approach gave us room to incorporate data graphics and UI overlays in a way that felt integrated, not layered on. Clean, modern, and completely on brand.

Rapid Prototyping

Rapid prototype (RP) was where we pressure-tested the story logic. We built a full rough cut using placeholder geometry, basic lighting, and simplified motion—to make sure everything worked spatially and narratively before committing to full design or rendering.

We mapped out the full transformation chain—home, grid, substation, solar farm, factory, and raw materials—and made sure each sequence transitioned smoothly to the next. No hard cuts. No confusion. We used spline-driven camera paths and dissolves matched to VO cadence to keep things fluid. One key sequence—the move from the home to the grid—was built using a single isometric pullback, with power lines converging toward a stylized transmission pylon. The grid stage was reduced to abstract forms, which flowed cleanly into the substation and eventually the solar farm.

We also blocked out a top-down view of the solar farm where the panels slowly pivoted to imply solar tracking. This layout was designed to resolve into the Chariot brand icon—built using C4D Cloner tools and custom effectors to arrange the panels into concentric and petal-like forms. Every degree of tilt, every bit of spacing, was tuned for that logo reveal.

One of the more technical parts of RP was the factory sequence. This part had to sell the value chain. We mapped out individual machines using modular conveyor layouts, labeling stages like “wafer,” “cell,” “panel,” “lamination,” and “testing.” Using dynamic proxy rigs, we built early motion passes showing robotic arms, linear actuators, and vacuum tools pushing solar panels through each stage. These rigs were built to mimic real-world automation—IK-based arm movement, gantry lifts on sliders, rollers syncing with conveyor speeds—so that once we added detail and texture, the animation would hold up under scrutiny.

Camera moves in the factory were plotted with nulls and constraint-based rigs in C4D. The goal was to echo the metaphor of energy flow—smooth, uninterrupted, and always forward. 

Prototyping Animation Concepts

We ran multiple animation tests alongside RP—especially around factory logic and brand moments. The wafer-to-panel sequence needed to clearly show the full conversion process, so we built a detailed animation rig with each step: crystalline ingots, wafers, cell placement, robotic pickup, laser sealing, testing, and boxing. Triggered rigs allowed us to simulate pushers, grabbers, and lifts working in sync with the conveyor flow. Every element had to match real-world logic.

One experimental test involved deconstructing a finished panel and reversing it into raw silica. Using fracture tools and Mograph fields, we built an animation where the panel splintered into hundreds of floating shards, then reversed in time to form granular material. This gave us a high-impact visual for how something seemingly simple is the result of a deep value chain.

We also tested floating UI overlays that projected onto the landscape, glowing vector lines to trace energy paths, and physical text animations—like “No Panels” landing directly on a house roof, or “Your Lowest Power Prices” anchored to solar arrays. These were done using both C4D extrusion and AE overlays to keep them clean and clear.

Client Feedback Shaping Direction

Client input during pre-production was direct and helpful. The big push was to make the piece feel grounded—no metaphor for metaphor’s sake. Every shot had to connect to something real. That meant we needed to show systems in place—not just imply them. This is why we expanded spatial logic in areas like the inverter station, and made the energy flow visible and physical.

They also stressed that the video needed to work without audio—especially for social use. That drove us to make key messaging land with on-screen text, not just voiceover. This also informed rhythm—one dissolve between transmission and substation was cut in favor of a physical energy trace, making the handoff easier to follow.

Brand integration was another focus. Chariot’s icon wasn’t just for the end card—they wanted it visible throughout. We delivered: forming it with solar panels, printing it on boxes, and including it on the workers' uniforms. This helped tie the visuals together and built up brand recall without feeling forced.

Final feedback also pointed us toward more vibrant, literal iconography in the UI onboarding steps. We replaced abstract wireframes with bright, yellow icons that sat over real solar imagery—clean, readable, and right in line with the brand.

Production (Full Production / FP)

Look Development

The move from rapid prototyping to full production was where the visuals leveled up—every scene that started as flat greyscale geometry was rebuilt with full materials, layered textures, and real lighting. What had been placeholders now delivered on the stylized, semi-photorealistic vision we’d aligned on through moodboards and client direction.

We kicked off look development with the suburban home—the opening touchpoint for the story. It was upgraded from basic geometry into a detailed, high-finish scene. The house featured cream siding, dark roofing, and custom trim—colors and textures chosen for warmth and familiarity. The scene was sculpted as a soft-edged isometric environment, complete with ornamental hedges, stylized trees, hair-based grass (converted for render efficiency), driveway, backyard pool, fencing, and a car model. Everything was tuned to walk the line between clean stylization and visual credibility. The goal: an aspirational, modern lifestyle scene that stayed grounded—not surreal, not abstract.

Solar panels got a dual-layer material treatment. The glass used true IOR reflections and subtle bump mapping to break surface flatness, while the internal structure featured a procedural grid pattern to hint at the PV cell design. Bifaciality was baked in through translucent shaders that allowed light to pass through the top surface and interact with the gravel below. These physics-informed details weren’t just for show—they backed up Chariot’s technical promise and made the scene believable.

The solar farm was built out with much more detail. Terrain was laid in as light, gravel ground with procedural surface variation. Using Cloner arrays in C4D, the full farm was precisely aligned to form the Chariot sunburst icon from a top-down view. The white gravel under the panels served two functions—adding realism (as white rock reflects light for bifacial panels) and creating a bright base to support clean lighting interaction.

Factory interiors followed a stripped-down, modern-industrial look: soft grays, gunmetal accents, and a punch of Chariot orange. Material finishes were semi-photorealistic, especially on metal surfaces, conveyors, and lightly worn details like weld grime and polished floors. This added a tactile, working-world feel while preserving the simplified geometry and lighting balance required for the isometric format.

Lighting across all environments was based on a stylized daylight rig—directional key lighting with subtle rim lights and soft, clean shadows. We used global illumination and bounced light to keep the depth and contrast consistent while ensuring scenes stayed bright and readable. It all supported a brand-forward aesthetic: crisp, modern, sun-powered.

Design & Animation

Once lookdev was locked, we moved into full scene buildout and animation. Every transition, every system, every motion sequence was crafted to show process and progress. The structure followed the deconstruct-to-reconstruct story logic from the script—energy traced backward through the system, then driven forward again in real time.

The camera path held to a mostly continuous isometric perspective. It panned, orbited, and tracked through key modules—starting at the home, pulling back through transmission lines and substations, across the solar array, into the factory floor, and down to the silica source. Built on a null hierarchy, the camera moves were engineered for clean transitions across dozens of animated scenes. We avoided perspective switches on purpose—keeping visual consistency and making future 1:1 and social edits fast and modular.

The factory sequence was especially complex. Synced to narration, it showed the full lifecycle of solar panel creation. Silica poured through a funnel via rigid body simulation, collected into molds, and was shaped into ingots. From there, robotic arms sliced, etched, bonded, and laminated cells. Gantry robots traveled along rails, gripping wafers and moving them between machines. Every action followed mechanical logic, but was stylized for clarity and timing. We added branded decals and Chariot-labeled shipping boxes to reinforce the brand in an otherwise technical scene.

Conveyor systems used motion-controlled loops with effectors to simulate continuous movement. We leaned into a light time-lapse effect mid-sequence, compressing motion to suggest high-efficiency manufacturing. It kept things tight without sacrificing plausibility.

One standout moment: the solar farm coming together. Using Mograph Cloners and Spline Effectors, we animated panel arrays installing row by row, then pivoting into final position. The panels rippled outward in timed clusters until they formed the full Chariot logo. 

Character animation was handled with pre-rigged workers posed statically or in simple loops—assembling panels, inspecting systems, or packing boxes. All models wore Chariot-branded gear—orange vests, ballcaps, and uniforms—to reinforce brand presence subtly but consistently.

Style Choices and Reasoning

This project needed to split the difference between clarity and polish. Go too realistic, and the visuals get noisy and overbearing. Go too abstract, and you lose technical credibility. We struck a hybrid balance—clean styling underpinned by physically based materials, soft GI lighting, and detailed environmental design.

We chose isometric framing for a reason: it flattens the visual field and removes distortion. That gives equal weight to every part of the system—no single object dominates. It’s how we visually positioned Chariot as an energy provider that owns the full chain, from source to service. The diorama logic made spatial relationships clearer, which helped reinforce transparency.

Color usage followed the same logic. The Chariot palette—orange and yellow—was used for emphasis only: energy pulses, iconography, uniforms, and lighting effects. Environments used cooler neutrals—grays, greens, light stone tones—to keep attention where it belonged. All text overlays were large, sans-serif, and embedded into the environment itself—never just floating on top.

Lighting had one job: reveal, not dramatize. No cinematic light rigs, no overexposure. We used daylight simulation and bounced light to create bright, even scenes that stayed clean from any camera angle. Shadows were soft but directional—giving shape without clutter.

Every camera move was designed with purpose. Whether it was a pan, zoom, rotation, or UI pop-in, it existed to advance the narrative or clarify transformation. Even complex transitions—like reversing from the home to silica—were built for spatial continuity and viewer orientation.

Lastly, the full structure was designed with modularity in mind. Every scene could be broken down into 30- or 15-second versions, with 1:1 aspect options for social. Isometric logic and scene hierarchy made re-edits fast, clean, and consistent with the core story.

Technical Details

All modeling was done in Cinema 4D, using a mix of sourced elements and scratch-built geometry. We built everything with modularity in mind—especially for scenes like the solar farm and factory conveyor belts. Geometry was structured to work seamlessly with Cloner systems, so we could scale and adjust layouts quickly without slowing down iteration. Spline-based guides drove uniform behaviors for key elements like transmission lines and panel tilt angles, which made system-wide animation efficient and consistent.

Materials were created using both C4D’s standard material system and Redshift’s node-based workflow. We leaned into procedural textures and detail masks to keep things clean but visually rich. Gravel surfaces used variation masks for realism. The bifacial panel glass was set up with realistic IOR, partial transparency, and refraction to simulate real light interaction. Aluminum framing used subtle anisotropic highlights to capture brushed metal reflections. Robotic components featured brushed metal with rubberized accents to suggest grip surfaces and mechanical precision.

Redshift was the rendering engine of choice. It gave us fast, real-time previews with the control needed for our stylized realism approach. We optimized render performance with low-sample global illumination, selective material overrides, and deferred depth-of-field and motion blur—those were added in post. Renders were split into multiple passes—beauty, shadows, object IDs, glow, and Z-depth—for layered compositing in After Effects.

The Chariot logo reveal at the solar farm was powered by nested Cloner systems and offset timing effectors. We animated panel rows into place using Delay Effectors synced to waveform logic, with panels tilting and snapping into position in clusters. The result was a rhythmic buildout that formed the Chariot icon with clean, satisfying motion.

For the silica-to-panel manufacturing loop, we simulated raw material flow using rigid body dynamics. Granules poured into molds to kick off the factory process—symbolizing the material start of the solar energy chain. These physics-based simulations grounded the sequence and made the transition feel tangible.

Factory workers were animated using rigged skeletons with semi-looped, non-repeating motion. These background actions—inspecting panels, loading boxes—added human realism without pulling focus. The stylized motion helped them feel part of the isometric world while keeping the visuals clean and readable.

Post-Production & Delivery

Final Compositing & Color Grading

Post-production was fully executed in After Effects, where all Redshift render passes were brought together and layered for precise final polish. Each scene was composited using beauty, ambient occlusion, shadow, reflection, and Z-depth channels—giving us complete control over every visual element without bouncing back into 3D for changes.

Color grading leaned heavily into Chariot’s brand palette. Using curves, we tuned contrast and gamma for clarity across a wide range of devices. The tone stayed bright and energetic throughout, with warm mids and saturated brand accent colors. In the house and solar farm scenes, we added subtle vignettes to pull focus inward. Factory environments were balanced with cooler neutrals and clean specular highlights to preserve a modern industrial feel.

We used selective color tools to isolate energy paths, boosting the orange and yellow pulses without altering the surrounding palette. Exposure tweaks were made layer-by-layer to keep environmental light and post-applied glow elements visually balanced.

Motion blur and shallow depth-of-field were added back in during compositing using Z-depth passes and directional blur layers. These were especially effective for panel closeups, title reveals, and robotic movements—helping create depth and tactile realism without pulling focus from the message.

Energy flow scenes—from solar arrays to grid, and from grid back to the home—got significant post-enhancement in After Effects. Custom particle streaks and glow effects were layered on top of mask-driven spline paths to give energy visuals a sense of direction and momentum. We added lens glow and optical bursts to simulate key activation moments as panels powered on and grid connections came alive.

Scene transitions were softened with liquid-style wipes—designed to mimic hand-drawn movement and avoid jarring cuts. These were built using animated masks, displacement maps, and blend modes to keep the feel organic and smooth.

UI and icon overlays were animated with subtle scale and opacity ramps, then tracked into the 3D environment using C4D-exported camera data and nulls. This made every overlay feel physically part of the world—especially during onboarding steps and product benefit sequences.

Lens treatments were used sparingly. Light flare glints appeared during panel activation moments, with selective bloom on glow sources. We added a hint of chromatic aberration in macro shots to reinforce the tactile, high-fidelity detail—but never enough to distract from the message.

Infographics, UI Overlays & Data Visualization

UI overlays were purpose-built to match Chariot’s digital brand system. The onboarding steps—“Pick a Plan,” “Enter Info,” “Review & Confirm”—were introduced as clean, floating cards with Chariot-orange icons and short, direct headings. They were animated with soft elasticity and timed precisely to voiceover pacing.

We also built out a “zip code input” shot for some versions. This UI moment mimicked an auto-filled web form, using placeholder asterisks instead of real ZIPs—making it flexible for use across different markets without triggering compliance issues. In some final edits, it was removed based on regional requirements.

Final Edits & Optimization

Final editing was handled in both Premiere Pro and After Effects. Every VO phrase, camera pause, and animated beat was aligned in frame-accurate detail. Multiple review rounds focused on refining motion timing, visual pacing, and narrative rhythm.

We layered in secondary SFX for UI clicks, soft energy hums, and gentle camera motion accents. Sound design stayed minimal—supportive without pulling attention away from the VO. Everything was built to maintain Chariot’s voice: confident, calm, clear.

To ensure playback performance across platforms, we optimized final exports with controlled bitrates—16–20 Mbps for 1080p. This preserved fine visual detail in high-texture scenes like solar arrays and energy trails. SRT files were generated and manually synced for accessibility, line-by-line, to match final narration.

Brand alignment stayed tight through post. We followed Chariot’s font system, locked into accurate color values, and stayed true to the tone of clean, technical clarity. The sunburst logo showed up multiple times—woven into the solar farm layout, factory branding, shipping boxes, uniforms, and the final lockup.

Title cards and UI elements followed pre-approved guidelines: flat iconography, limited gradients, sharp contrast, and a hierarchy that matched Chariot’s digital experience. Any deviation was flagged and corrected before final render.

Alternate versions—15s, 30s—were adapted with careful re-positioning of titles and timing tweaks to keep legibility high. The one outlier—the “zip code” input—was noted early as a potential regional issue and removed from some final cuts to keep campaigns clean across all markets.

Delivery

Delivery was built for scale and speed—ready for web, social, broadcast, and regional rollout. All files were exported in high-quality, web-optimized formats with consistent naming conventions and embedded metadata.

Final deliverables included:

Primary Full-Length Video (66 sec):

• Format: 1080p H.264 (16:9)

• Versions: Male VO, Female VO

• Use Cases: Landing page, sales decks, digital campaigns

Social Cutdowns (30s and 15s):

• Format: 1080x1080 square, centered

• Versions: Male VO, Female VO

• Use Cases: Instagram, Facebook, paid video ads

Alternate Visual Versions:

• With/without zip code shot

• With/without “Chariot Icon solar farm” reveal

• Alternate closing taglines

• Use Cases: A/B testing, regional customization

Subtitles:

• Format: SRT, one per version

• Manually synced to narration

• Editable with timecode precision

Streaming & Broadcast Versions:

• Formats: ProRes 422 and broadcast-safe H.264

• Audio normalized to -23 LUFS for OTT compliance

• Use Cases: Broadcast, CTV, digital pre-roll

Delivery was handled via cloud link, organized by version, format, and use case. Every folder included a spec sheet with version notes, VO talent used, and application guidelines—making it easy for the Chariot team to launch quickly and confidently across all channels.

Transcript:

100% solar power. No panels on your home. Chariot Energy. Better power has arrived.

Enter your zip code on this page to see your lowest solar rates.

Here's how it works. Chariot Energy gives you everything you need to get you the power you want at the best price possible.

We take the raw materials and manufacture the panels.

We employ Texans. We develop and own the solar farms powered by our panels.

Finally, we deliver that energy to the grid.

You get 100% solar power without needing to install solar panels on the roof.

There's no middleman, which means Chariot Energy can pass additional savings onto you.

And signing up is as easy as one, two, three. Enter your zip code right here to get started.

Low solar power prices. No solar panels on your home. Chariot Energy. Delivering sunshine.