Ideas are group travelers. Whenever we start a project we let our imagination run freely. Instead of asking “who has a great idea?”, we tend to ask “who has an idea?”, taking off the pressure of having to be brilliant from the get-go. By creating a space where ideas can flourish we collect a whole range of ideas before we line them all up and compare them. By viewing the ideas side-by-side we get a better perspective on what works and what doesn’t for the specific project. Much like the forming of the fellowship, when you put a bunch of ideas together, you quickly see the strengths and weaknesses of each. Ultimately this allows us to determine which one is the best to carry the ring into Mordor. Life is better as a Lord of the Rings metaphor.

Ross Ingram, CEO of Maslo “I’m always inspired by playful things in life. The same goes for empathetic artificial intelligence… if we are to truly deliver on the promise of artificial intelligence, what would that look like? Would it be cold and steryl like a robot? Or would it be something a bit more humanized and Pixar-like?”

With this as our guide we took our gazillion ideas and developed six of them into full fledged concepts. To give you a sense of the wide range we explored, here are two of the concepts:

Concept #1: A day in the life of Maslo

A kid walking to school and throughout the day we hear them journaling. We never see or hear who they talk to. We hear the kid say “Maslo, I can’t wait for science class.” “Hey Maslo, I am really scared about my English test today” “”Maslo, I would definitely be a pepperoni and jalapeno pizza….maybe I’d add onions, maybe not” “Maslo! I got a 95 on my English test!” and it ends with them journaling on a phone; “See you tomorrow Maslo,” and we reveal Maslo in its app interface. “Thanks for listening and helping wrap my brain around everything”

Concept #2: Reaching your highest potential

The year is 2047. We see Earth from space. A lone astronaut floats into view. We hear them say “I was encouraged to love science in the 3rd grade”. Cut to a robotic engineer, “I learned to love technology when I was a kid”. A firefighter, “Talking about my problems made me realize I wanted to help others”. An athlete, “Focusing on my goals got me here”. How did all these people get here? Maslo. Cuts to a kid in present day classroom on their device. “I think I want to study computers” Maslo responds.

When you see the final video, you’ll realize none of these concepts are what ended up in the final cut. However Concept #1 was the idea that resonated the most with Ross and his team. Together we kept developing the idea, focusing on imbuing it with a sense of magic and wonder, while also adding clarity to what Maslo actually does and how people interact with him. By distilling the idea down to its essence, and elevating it to a more abstract plane, we were able to execute the original vision through a story of discovery and aspirations. The direct interaction with us and the Maslo team allowed us to be nimble, and to respond quickly to new inputs, ultimately shaping a concept that fulfilled the team’s vision.

Alright, so we have our Spielberg-level concept. How do we execute on that with an indie-level budget? For that, we’ll turn it over to director Morten Forland.

Morten Forland, Director: “The biggest challenge with executing the team’s vision was visualizing Maslo in a way that gave a sense of life and character. We knew we didn’t have the budget to do elaborate visual effects, so I set out to explore the options available to us. We started with a blank canvas, a pure white space, where our two characters would encounter Maslo. Inspired by the Maslo interface in the app, a circular spot of color that organically morphs as it interacts with you, I landed on the concept of using different circles of light in the white space to represent Maslo. The lights needed to be able to move, change color and have texture in order to efficiently tell our story. I brought the idea to my director of photography (DP), Matt Schleicher, who accepted the challenge. Matt suggested using stage lighting, the spinning, twirling, bouncing lights that make crazy looking stage shows. They offered us the flexibility to design the character using subtle animation, expressive color transformation and movement — the real world Maslo was born.”