3D Design & Animation
A backpack that can hold anything. That was the starting point for telling an entire adventure story in a handful of credit cards.
A Race Against the Clock
Working in direct collaboration with director Alberto Belli, Executive Producer Adam Bonnett, and Paramount's production team, the project came with a real-world production reality: as the cut evolved, the credit count grew from an initial 12 to 24 names, without any extra time available on the schedule. So with just 30 days to animate and render the entire system, the real challenge stopped being purely creative and became one of production engineering: I needed a design that could render fast, while still landing with real visual power on screen.
Three Directions, One Backpack
I pitched the studio three completely different concepts:
-A travel journal of Dora's, styled like an adventurer's logbook, guided page by page by one of the film's iconic fireflies.
-An illustrated continuation of one of the film's characters' journeys, where the jungle mischievously follows him all the way back home.
-And the one that was ultimately chosen: Dora's iconic backpack, the one that, in the original cartoon, holds the magical property of storing any object, no matter its size or shape. The idea came from a suggestion by Paramount's own team, and from there I built out the entire system.
Building the System
Starting from that concept, I went looking for objects that could represent each behind-the-camera role, as well as each character on screen.
For the more technical roles, like Director, Editor, Composer, and Writer, I chose objects loaded with personality: a director's chair, a pan flute for the composer, scissors for the editor. For the actors, I surveyed the film's most iconic scenes and picked, in each case, the object that best represented their character. Sometimes it was a vehicle, if it came from an action scene. Other times it was a key wardrobe piece or a tool tied to their story. Everything shared the same adventure-driven visual language, in tune with the tone of the film.
The system also had to solve two non-negotiable requirements. It had to be modular, since studios often add or remove names at the last minute, and the text had to be applied in post, so titles could be tweaked, extra credits added within the same card, or names pulled entirely for international versions.
Finding Dynamism in Minimalism
One of the biggest creative challenges was proving that a system built on essentially two elements per credit (the backpack and a single accompanying object) could still feel dynamic across 24 different cards. The studio needed to be convinced it wouldn't read as repetitive.
My answer was to lean into that minimalism and let light do the heavy lifting. Ordinary objects, a knife, a hat, a tool, came alive through dramatic, theatrical lighting, almost painted onto each piece to bring out its narrative quality. A knife got hard, raking light that traced its edge as it slashed across the frame, while a mysterious relic stayed hidden in silhouette until a final reveal.
Paired with tightly choreographed, intention-driven animation, each of the 24 plates ended up working like its own tiny story, with a setup, a turning point, and a payoff, rather than a repeating template with a new object dropped in.
What I Enjoyed Most
This is one of my favorite projects to date. Adventure films are my favorite genre, and this gave me the perfect excuse to play with light and motion until I found a way to bring completely inanimate objects to life: the most intense way I could think of to step, even just a little, inside that adventure story.
My Role
3D Design & Animation including concept design, modeling, animation, shading, camera animation, and rendering for every object across all 24 plates, with the exception of the Sundial, Medallion, and Bracelet, which were modeled by other team.
3D Design & Animation including concept design, modeling, animation, shading, camera animation, and rendering for every object across all 24 plates, with the exception of the Sundial, Medallion, and Bracelet, which were modeled by other team.
This animation was created for Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado. It is shared here exclusively for portfolio purposes, to showcase my individual contribution to the project. I do not claim ownership of the Dora IP, and no commercial use is intended. All rights remain with the original copyright holders.
