Reimagining creativity for everyone
Adobe releases Fantastic Voyage, a short film celebrating Photoshop's 30th anniversary and positioning the software as a tool accessible to anyone.1 The film launches in late August 2020 as the centrepiece of Adobe's "Creativity for All" platform and represents one of the company's first full Creative Cloud spots built around Photoshop.1, 2, 3
The film follows a woman on her daily New York subway ride whose ordinary surroundings transform into surreal scenes powered by her imagination.2 The narrative argues that Photoshop, once reserved for designers and photographers, now lives in the pockets of millions following the launch of Photoshop for iPad in late 2019 and of Photoshop Camera in mid 2020.1
Production and recognition
The agency 72andSunny Los Angeles develops the campaign, with French director Antoine Bardou-Jacquet of Partizan directing the film.2 Visual effects studio Mathematic delivers the surreal transitions, with Work Editorial on edit and LIME Studios on sound.2 The campaign extends through social channels and an open creative challenge that invites audiences to remix character stickers via Giphy and Instagram Stories.1, 3
The film wins a Silver Lion in the Film Craft category at the 2021 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.1 Fantastic Voyage reflects Adobe's strategic shift, broadening Photoshop's audience from professional studios toward a generation raised on TikTok, Snapchat filters, and short-form storytelling.1
Source: Ads of Brands Youtube
Written with AI assistance, edited by a human. Find out more about our Use of AI.
1. Adobe Blog, Giselle Abramovich, "Take a fantastic voyage: Reimagining creativity and the power of imagination with Photoshop", 21 September 2020, read together with Wikipedia, "Adobe Photoshop", read on 25 September 2026, for the film being presented in the year Photoshop turned 30, the blog placing the birthday "this past February" and Wikipedia giving the release of Photoshop 1.0 as 19 February 1990; for the blog's case that Photoshop was for the first half of its life "primarily a tool for creative professionals to create visual effects in photography, film, web design and more" and is "No longer just a tool for professionals, today anyone can use Photoshop to create"; for the film being published under the heading #CreativityForAll; for Adobe's statement "In November of 2019, when we released Photoshop for iPad and Photoshop Camera, we extended our most powerful creative tool beyond laptops and into the pockets of millions", with Wikipedia confirming the release of Photoshop for iPad in November 2019, while Photoshop Camera, announced at Adobe MAX in November 2019, reached general availability only in mid June 2020 according to Adobe's own blog post "Innovation unwrapped: Photoshop Camera" of 9 September 2020, which is why the body dates it to mid 2020; for the open invitation to build a fantastic voyage from the film's characters, to download the animated character stickers from Adobe's Giphy page, to find them under PsVoyage in Instagram Stories, and to post the result on Twitter or Instagram tagged @photoshop; for the film having been "recognized for its visual effects with a Silver Lion at the 2021 Cannes Creativity Festival", the blog naming the discipline as visual effects without naming the Film Craft Lions; and for the blog's setting of the shift in an age of "Tiktok videos, to Instagram Stories and Snapchat filters". The blog does not describe the film as the centrepiece of a Creativity for All platform. https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2020/09/21/fantastic-voyage-reimagining-creativity-with-photoshop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Photoshop
2. SHOOTonline, "72andSunny, Director Antoine Bardou-Jacquet Take Us On A 'Fantastic Voyage' For Photoshop", 28 August 2020, Stash, Stephen Price, "Adobe Photoshop 'Fantastic Voyage' by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet and Mathematic", 31 August 2020, and The Clio Awards, "Adobe Photoshop: Fantastic Voyage", entry in the 2020 Clio Awards, all three off whitelist, for the spot having been published in the trade press at the end of August 2020, three weeks before the Adobe blog post; for its premise of a woman on her daily commute who uses Photoshop to reimagine her surroundings, turning "her everyday mundane ride into a fantastic voyage to the furthest corners of her imagination" in SHOOT's words, on what Stash calls "a New York subway ride"; and for the credits the three pages give consistently: 72andSunny Los Angeles as agency, Antoine Bardou-Jacquet of Partizan as director, Mathematic of Paris on visual effects, Work Editorial on edit and LIME Studios on sound design and mix. The Clio entry records a Gold in Film Craft, Visual Effects. None of the three pages states the director's nationality. https://www.shootonline.com/shoot_video2/72andsunny-director-antoine-bardou-jacquet-take-us-fantastic-voyage-photoshop/ https://www.stashmedia.tv/adobe-fantastic-voyage-antoine-bardou-jacquet/ https://clios.com/awards/winner/film-craft-visual-effects/adobe-photoshop/fantastic-voyage-83994
3. LBBOnline, "Adobe's First Creative Cloud Spot Invites You on a Fantastic Voyage Through Photoshop", 3 September 2020, off whitelist, and Campaign US, "Adobe Photoshop 'Fantastic voyage' by 72andSunny LA", 3 September 2020, for the 60 second spot going on air in the UK during Britain's Got Talent on Saturday 5 September 2020 and running until November; for LBB's report that it marks "the first time the company has ever advertised Creative Cloud on TV in the UK" and Campaign's description of it as Adobe's "first ad for Photoshop to run in the UK", both firsts confined to the UK; and for the campaign running alongside paid social and digital placements, which LBB lists as including TikTok, Twitch and Reddit and Campaign calls "social activity". https://lbbonline.com/news/adobes-first-creative-cloud-spot-invites-you-on-a-fantastic-voyage-through-photoshop https://www.campaignlive.com/article/adobe-photoshop-fantastic-voyage-72andsunny-la/1693368
