The menagerie at Hackney City Farm, Fonic’s London base, provided inspiration when it came to creating the soundscape for Chipotle’s famous adverts.

Back in 2011, Director Johnny Kelly headed up a huge creative team at Nexus Studios to bring Chipotle’s vision of sustainable farming to life via animation. The finished TV spot ‘Back To The Start’ won many awards including two prestigious Cannes Grand Prix Lions, the world’s most prestigious advertising award. Ten years later the team reassembled to continue the story in a new spot entitled ‘A Future Begins’, with a much more ambitious story to tell of Chipotle’s support for the next generation of farmers. Johnny’s creative team built ten different sets featuring over 80 tiny resin puppets. Post-production sound was handled by Fonic on both adverts.

The sound design for the two spots involved sourcing, layering and mixing sound but also creating original sounds with Fonic’s Foley artist Sue Harding. Specifically, for ‘A Future Begins’ Sue created a vast range of different sounds including the sound of boxes being put into cars, people walking through snow drifts, buildings being erected and even the faintest sound of a cap being put on a head. Her auditory skills as an award-winning foley artist were appreciated by Johnny “Sue has this enviable ability to give our animated scenes, that I’ve viewed dozens and dozens of times, a completely new lease of life – the crunch of footsteps in the snow, or twist of fabric all add so much to the animators performance. Without standing out, entire scenes immediately have a sense of added realism and immediacy. With visuals and colourful graphic characters like these, you could easily imagine a more whimsical alternative sound approach – perhaps a little more cartooney or using musical sound effects- but the slightly grittier, realistic approach Fonic took deliberately gave the film and its message more weight.”

Once the tracklay and sound design was completed Fonic’s dubbing mixer Christopher Swaine took control. He states “Due to COVID restrictions Johnny couldn’t physically be in the studios, he worked remotely with Sue and Rory Hunter during a foley session, and again for the mix. However, as we have a great working relationship, this gave us a head start and we were on the same page from the very beginning. Initially he provided some notes such as describing how he wanted the tractor to sound and asking for ” organic sounds” but other than that we were on our own. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the film was contrasting the sounds of the chemical industrial machines against the sounds of our farmer’s hand tools. We were also able to add humour and pathos to certain scenes by the addition of a sound. For example, Johnny liked the little whimper we added to the dog when the car drives off at the start; he felt that it gave the scene a proper heart-stealing moment. Once we had finished our sound mix, it was sent over to the United States where a final mix by The Elements was done, incorporating Kacey Musgrave’s version of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’. It was great to hear just how much our effects stood out in the final mix. This was undoubtedly helped by our over decade long working relationship with Johnny”

As well as establishing and maintaining great working relationships with the creative’s they work with, Fonic’s skills also help resolve issues. Johnny explains how the concerns he had about storyboarding were resolved by Fonic; “We’re trying to tell a lot in a short space of time, and you wonder when storyboarding these scenes whether it could be too much, but Fonic find clever ways of using sound in a way that doesn’t overload, and guides your eye to where you’re supposed to be looking at any given moment in a scene. For instance I love the sounds when the farmhouse is boarded up in deep winter. Christopher layered up a variety of foley recorded wooden thwacks as the windows are closed up and arranged them in a neat little rhythm, capping it off with a squeaky sign swing to give it some lightness.”  On the process of working with Fonic Johnny notes “It’s never anything other than a complete pleasure to work with Fonic. They take a lot of care in what they do also it doesn’t hurt that they are based underneath a real life farm!”

The Chipotle adverts are a great showcase for Fonic’s skills and talents. They demonstrate how important post production sound is in creating the right feeling and pace for what is considered a primarily visual work. Indeed Fonic’s long and fruitful relationship with many leading animation studios gives them a particular understanding of the needs and concerns of animators.

‘A Future Begins’ premiered in front of a TV audience of 77million during the thanksgiving NFL game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys. Like ‘spot ‘Back To The Start’, ‘A Future Begins’ has gone on to pick up numerous awards highlighting the skill and dedication of all the creatives who bring such work to life.

Credits:
Client: Chipotle Mexican Grill
Agency: Observatory by Crispin
Production company: Nexus Studios
Director: Johnny Kelly
Lead animators: Gary Cureton, Matthew Cooper
Sound Design: Fonic
Foley Artist: Sue Harding
Foley Recordist: Rory Hunter
Re-recording Mixer & Sound Effects Editor: Christopher Swaine
Music: Kacey Musgraves
Additional Mix: Source Sound Inc & The Elements

See the advert here

Here is a short film about the making of A Future Begins