The legendary Belgian brand Godiva turns 100 and celebrates with a hand-animated short film. Studio The Line and director Sam Taylor have created a nostalgic piece that reviews decades of shared moments around chocolate. Leighton Meester lends her voice as Lady Godiva, in a tribute to the artisanal legacy of Pierre Draps and his wife Eugénie. The animation seeks to connect with the audience authentically, without digital artifice.
Traditional animation: the luxury of craftsmanship versus AI 🎨
The Line has opted for hand-drawn 2D animation, a process that requires months of work and a team of specialized artists. Each frame has been crafted using classic techniques, from storyboarding to inking and manual coloring. Sam Taylor sought a visual style that evoked family photo albums, with smooth transitions between decades. This decision directly contrasts with the current trend of using artificial intelligence to generate fast and cheap content. The brand bets on the value of what is made with patience.
AI doesn't taste like chocolate: Godiva prefers pencil and paper 🍫
While half the world rushes to ask ChatGPT to write poems or Midjourney to draw a chocolate bar with a mustache, Godiva has decided to go in the opposite direction. The Belgian brand has preferred to pay real illustrators to move pencils for months. Because, let's be honest, an artificial intelligence will never be able to convey the emotion of opening a chocolate wrapper on Christmas Eve. That, or the algorithms still haven't learned to get their fingers stained with cocoa.