Watch Photoshop Transform a Dull Commute Into a Phantasmagoria

Next stop: The limits of your imagination! (Unless you need to get off downtown and do some shopping first.)

A young woman’s mundane subway ride morphs into a subterranean “fantastic voyage” of cascading colors and vivacious visions in 72andSunny’s new short film for Adobe Photoshop:

That was some … trip. Why didn’t anyone give up their seat to the magical golden octopus? Remember your subway etiquette, people!

Naturally, the team used Photoshop to craft the minute-long spot, vividly illustrating the brand’s promise to help translate and enhance users’ creative visions for all the world to see. Plus, who doesn’t get great ideas on a long commute or while slogging through some humdrum task?

Partizan director Antoine Bardou-Jacquet delivers a playful (and aptly artful!) experience. Ad nerds may recall that he helmed the classic Rube Goldberg-style “Cog” spot for Honda 17 years ago. That film and the Adobe commercial share similar sensibilities, capturing tech-propelled joy and discovery in captivating visuals.

Of the new ad, Bardou-Jacquet says: “Photoshop is probably the software of my life. I owe it a big part of my career. I discovered it right after my art school degree and it was a new world of fantastic possibilities. Since this period, I’m using it probably every day, as a graphic designer first and as a director now. It helps me to search and create visual ideas, and also to explain what I have in mind to the people I work with.”

“While we started the campaign before Covid-19, we entered into production right as the pandemic started to hit the United States,” recalls 72andSunny creative director Lauren Smith. “In an interesting twist of fate, we had to use the power of imagination not only in our film but also in the way we made it. From remote production night shoots in Prague to a video village in Los Angeles to countless remote post-production calls across oceans and time zones and remote editing/mixing/coloring, we figured out ways to work that we previously wouldn’t have imagined possible.”

Minor quibble: Though the Rolling Stones’ “She’s a Rainbow” provides a rollicking soundscape, it’s starting to rival “What a Wonderful World” and “Lust for Life” among overused ad tracks. Maybe leave that one at the station next time.
 
Regardless, “Fantastic Voyage” feels in tune with Adobe’s other similarly themed celebrations of creativity. These include an online film festival with all footage sourced from the company’s stock library, an Academy Awards spot mixing pop culture icons and Adobe menus, and a Billie Eilish-themed art contest, judged by the singer and packed with surreal, unsettling entries.

CREDITS

Brand: Adobe
Creative Agency: 72andSunny Los Angeles
Director: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet
Production: Partizan

VFX: Mathematic
Song: “She’s a Rainbow” by The Rolling Stones
Mix/Sound Design: LIME Studios
Editorial: Work Editorial