“The Bear and The Hare” for John Lewis

UPDATE: The making of video is up, and it’s simply astounding:

The Making Of: The Bear & The Hare from Hornet Inc on Vimeo.

Yves Geleyn and Elliot Dear worked with the talented team at Hornet / Blinkink to produce this heartwarming story of The Bear and The Hare.

The style and content harkens back to classic English illustrated children’s books, and the campaign extends to other platforms such as interactive ebook, classic kids book and an Ipad app. I love the blend of 2D characters against the background which I’m guessing is a combination of miniature and 3D backgrounds.

From the press release: ‘The marriage of traditional hand-drawn 2D animation with stop-frame model animation creates a tangible world full of texture and detail that conveys the honesty behind the John Lewis Christmas message.’

Also a nice informative Guardian article about it here. 

Executive Producers
Bart Yates
Michael Feder
Producers
Bart Yates
James Stevenson Bretton
Josephine Gallagher
Line Producer
Kev Harwood
Production Manager
Benjamin Lole
2D Animation
Premise Entertainment LLC
2D Animation Supervisors
Aaron Blaise
Dominic Carola
2D Line Producer
Iris Pearson
2D Animators
Erin Humiston
Darko Cesar
Head of Clean-up 2D Animation
Janelle Bell-Martin
2D Clean-up Artists
Mi Yul Lee
Teresa Quezada-Geer
Jacque Pierro
Chad Thompson
Jason Peltz
2D Compositor/Scene Setup
Mac Masters
2D Artistic Coordinator
Pam Darley
2D Digital Artist
Anthony West
Enoc Castaneda
2D Lead Colourist/Coordinator
James Lancett
2D Colourists
Sean Weston
Joseph Sparkes
Frankie Swan
Harriet Gillian
Assistant 2D Colourist
Lila Peuscet
2D Illustrator Technician
Albert Sala
Printers
The Graphical Tree
Laser Cutting
Ewen Dickie
Designer/Typographer
Robert Frank Hunter
Storyboard Artists
Sav Akyuz
Steve Tappin
James Lancett
Robert Frank Hunter
3D Technical Director
Patrick Hearn
3D Previsualisation Artist
Simone Ghilardotti
Lucas Cuenca
Johannes Sambs
Lead Stop-Frame Animator
Andy Biddle
Stop-Frame Animators
Daniel Ojari
Daniel Gill
Production Designer/
Supervising Modeller
John Lee
Art Department Modellers
Colin Armitage
Sonya Yu
Maggie Haden
Collette Pidgeon
Yossel Simpson Little
Richard Blakey
Gary Welch
Christy Matta
Lucy Begent
Scenic Painters
Fiona Stewart
Beth Quinton
Rigging Department
Richard Blakey
Art Department Assistants
Morgan Faverty
Anna Ginsburg
Jennifer Newman
MOCO/Camera Assistant
Max Halstead
Director of Photography
Toby Howell
Gaffer
Aldo Camilleri
Runner
Robert Gould
Post Production
Blinkink Studios
Post Production/Compositing
Alasdair Brotherston
Ian Sargent
Carlos Diego
Jonathan Gallagher
Elliot Dear
Editors
Sam Sneade at Speade
Ellie Johnson at Speade
Sound Design
Sam Robson at Factory Studios
Colourist
Jean-Clement Soret at MPC
‘Making of ’ Film
Jake Hopwell & Josh Hine
Studio Manager
Elizabeth Day
Studio Assistant
Toby Goodyear

Catering
Laura Barbi
Advertising Agency
Adam & Eve DDB
Executive Creative Director
Ben Priest
Creative Directors
Aidan McClure
Laurent Simon
Agency Producer
Anthony Falco
Assistant Producer
Catherine Cullen

Posted on Motionographer

Channel 4 Street Summer promo


Update: MPC’s behind-the-scene ‘making of’. Fascinating stuff!

Given the recent riots and looting that’s been plaguing England, I cannot help but post this “Street Summer” promo by Channel 4. MPC London is responsible for the flawless VFX, which is fascinating to watch if you can ignore the highly charged content for a second.

Glancing through the comments on the official YouTube page and also here, I find them to be just as interesting as the video.

Is this inappropriate, done in poor taste? Or is this simply a honest portrayal of the youth culture in Britain now? Does this condone stereotyping or challenge viewers to rethink it? What do you think?

Thanks to Zinnia for the nudge, and our hearts go out to U.K. residents affected by the riots.

 

Posted on Motionographer

Aardman Animations: Change4Life

aardman-change

Aardman director Steve Harding-Hill mixed 3D and 2D animation with a great sense of comedic timing to nudge Britons off the couch and into the great outdoors—or at least to the nearest park.

Working with agency M&C Saatchi for UK’s Department of Health, “Change4Life” tells the story of makind’s epic journey to obesity with tongue lodged firmly in cheek, using laughter instead of lectures to educate and motivate viewers.

The hybrid animation style is as playful as the palette, and Harding-Hill did a great job casting the faceless stars of the spot as lovable little creations.

Like many “stop-motion” spots of late, “Change4Life” used CG to create the illusion of good ol’ analogue clay. It’s expertly done here, and I suspect we’ll only see more of it in the future.

Says Harding-Hill:

We wanted things to be stop motion like, not too slick and stylized. We ended up making photocopies of our drawings, sticking them to polyboard, and shooting them with still cameras. Our backgrounds were created like theater sets, flat and layered up.

The black lines were crucial to the overall graphic sensibility and also made it possible for us to do some 2D animation and mix things up a bit.

The companion website features the same characters and lists practical tips for living a healthier lifestyle.

Posted on Motionographer

Aardman Animations: Change4Life