GOOGLE Play - Rewards Lab

I was asked to create a teaser for Google Play’s Rewards Lab, an experiential installation built to promote the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. I received early references of the physical space, but since this piece had to function as a teaser, I chose to strip the environment down to its essential forms. By removing unnecessary elements, the 3D model stayed clean, focused, and avoided revealing too much about the final build.

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Wasserman
Plastic Pistols INC
Design and Animation

One of the main creative challenges was presenting the Fantastic Four without actually showing the characters. The film had not yet been released, so the only visual information available came from a short teaser. Using those early clips as reference, I designed abstract 3D interpretations of each character’s power—forms that feel recognizable but never disclose the final look from the movie or the installation.

Another layer of complexity came from integrating elements from MONOPOLY GO!, which was part of the rewards offered inside the Lab. The teaser needed to connect the film, the installation, and the in-game rewards in one cohesive visual language.

Although the final piece did not end up being a loop, the initial requirement was to make the entire sequence loop seamlessly. Looping the powers was relatively straightforward once I calculated timing, spacing, and how each power would react as the Google Play Point moved through the conveyor belt. But the biggest technical challenge was looping the trees. I used Forester 3D and although the software includes a loop function for wind simulation, it simply never produced a perfect cycle. To solve this, I exported the trees as Alembic files and used a combination of offset tricks and manual blending to achieve a flawless looping animation.

The video was a major success - it garnered over 5 million views on Google Play’s Instagram alone, demonstrating very strong reach and engagement.