Dolby was the leader in cinema technology for the past 40 years. With new competition entering the scene, Dolby began to lose its presence in cinema and was only remembered as a logo on a stereo button.
To reinforce its relationship to the movies, Dolby signed on for a 20-year sponsorship of the Oscars theater. A year in, Dolby’s presence was still lacking.
Our task was to bring meaning to that partnership, reclaim Dolby’s cinema credibility, and find relevance with a new generation of filmmakers and moviegoers.
We worked with Oscar-winning filmmakers to create a short animated film that would resonate with the Oscars and movie loving audience. It told Dolby’s story: how sound technology has transformed movie history.
“Silent" is an animated short film created by Academy Award winning Moonbot Studios and Oscar-nominated sound designer Steve Boeddeker. It celebrates how storytellers, inventors, and technology work together to create cinema magic.
The story follows two street performers who dream of bringing their "Picture and Sound Show" to life. When they discover a magical contraption inside an old theatre, they embark on a cinematic adventure of sight and sound to find the audience they always wanted.
“Silent” achieved its goal of reinforcing Dolby’s endemic role within Hollywood, both to industry and consumer audiences. As a sign of this success, it was the first brand piece to ever take part of an Oscars event, it debuted as Netflix’s first ever-animated branded content piece, and was featured by Samsung and Amazon.
The film gained praise from the media as it was featured as Vimeo’s ‘Short of the Week’ and also on USA Today’s ‘What to Watch’ list.
It continues to show at film festivals, trade events, and in Dolby Atmos theaters worldwide.
All without any paid media.