INFORMA - Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity
Crafting the Lions
Observatory was commissioned by Informa to develop 3D animation sequences of the Cannes Lions trophies for the 72nd Festival of Creativity. Our work featured in the opening ceremony of the awards, across multiple stages and festival environments throughout the Palais des Festivals, on the building's exterior screens, and across digital platforms worldwide.
THE BREIF
Bring the world's most coveted creative award to life in 3D
The Cannes Lions trophy is one of the most recognised symbols in the creative industries — a winged lion cast in gold, silver, bronze, titanium and glass, representing different tiers of achievement. Informa, who operate the production for the festival, wanted a series of animations that would celebrate the craftsmanship, quality and material diversity of each award — revealing the trophies with the reverence they deserve.
This was Observatory's first year working with Informa on Cannes Lions - earned on the strength of the studio's reel and its track record producing high-end 3D content for live events at scale.
DELIVERABLES
From the opening ceremony to the Croisette
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Awards Opening Sequence
Stage & Festival Screens
Observatory's trophy renders featured in the opening sequence of the festival's awards ceremonies — the moment that sets the tone for the most prestigious creative awards in the world, watched live by thousands in the Palais and streamed globally.
Animations were deployed across multiple stages and festival environments throughout the Palais des Festivals and surrounding site — each requiring different aspect ratios and resolutions while maintaining the cinematic quality of the hero renders.
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Exterior Building Displays
Digital & Online
The iconic exterior LED screens on the Palais des Festivals — overlooking the red-carpeted steps and the Croisette — carried Observatory's trophy content, visible to the 15,000+ delegates and the international media covering the festival.
Trophy animations were used across Cannes Lions' digital platforms and online presence — extending the visual identity beyond the physical festival into the global broadcast and social media ecosystem surrounding the event.
CREATIVE APPROACH
The trophy is the hero. Nothing else.
The creative direction was driven by Informa. These weren't animations that compete with the trophy — they serve it. Every camera move, every lighting choice, every render setting was calibrated to make the viewer feel the weight, the warmth, the material truth of the object in front of them.
Material Fidelity
Cinematic Camera Work
Each trophy material was reconstructed from reference photography by Aaron Tilley with obsessive accuracy. Gold needed to feel cast, not painted, with the micro-imperfections and warm light absorption of real metal. Silver had to read as polished chrome, not CGI chrome. Glass required physically accurate refraction and caustics.
Camera moves were storyboarded before any rendering began — slow, deliberate orbits and macro push-ins that reveal surface detail the way a jeweller would present a piece. The motion language was calm and confident, letting the craft of the object speak rather than relying on dramatic editing.
Grading & Finish
The Casting Narrative
Every render was colour-graded to match the tonal world of the Cannes Lions brand — warm, premium, and restrained. Final outputs were exported at the highest quality settings across multiple resolutions for the range of LED surfaces throughout the festival site.
The foundry scene added a narrative dimension — showing the transformation from raw molten material to finished trophy. It connected the festival's celebration of creative craft to the literal craft of making the award itself, reinforcing the idea that a Lion is earned through process, not accident.
Context
The world's stage for creativity
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the global benchmark for creative excellence — a five-day gathering at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès that draws around 15,000 delegates from over 90 countries. The awards ceremony is the centrepiece: the moment when the industry's best work is recognised, and careers are made. The trophy animations aren't background content — they are the visual language of that moment.
The 2025 edition — the 72nd festival — saw Grand Prix awards across Film, Titanium, Design, Entertainment, Innovation, and more, with work from agencies including Publicis Conseil, TBWA, DDB Latina and McCann. Observatory's content framed every one of those announcements.
TECHNICAL
Photo-real CG at festival scale
8-Week Turnaround
Material Shading
30 animation sequences, a casting process scene, storyboarding, 3D development, rendering, compositing andgrading all within an eight-week production window. No room for error on a global stage.
Distinct material setups — gold, silver, bronze, titanium, glass, and sustainable materials — each requiring physically-based shading with accurate reflectance, sub-surface properties, and environmental lighting response.