weareTHEARTDEPT.com

Working directly from the architect’s blueprints, we...

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:37:00 -0400

Working directly from the architect’s blueprints, we designed and built this beautiful animated short to promote the runway expansion of Oslo’s Gardermoen airport for Passion Pictures’ director Marc Reisbig.

The scale model, which had to be both architectural and animatable, spans across a 3metre tabletop and was built using a selection of hard woods to echo the scandinavian construction plans.

view photos of the build here

watch the short film here

In this, our first opportunity to work with BrandNewSchool and...

Thu, 03 May 2012 09:38:00 -0400

In this, our first opportunity to work with BrandNewSchool and their New York director Dennis Go, we were given the task of bringing to life the iconic Ben&Jerry’s mascot “Woody”.

Usually only seen in a 2D format, the script involved Woody travelling through a variety of environments on his search for new ice cream flavours.

We designed and built a poseable Woody puppet that could interact with the props that we created for her. We also undertook the rigging for the job, no mean feat as you will see in these behind-the-scenes photos.

Watch the commercial here

We created a series of colourful Comet idents with Airside for...

Thu, 03 May 2012 08:06:00 -0400

We created a series of colourful Comet idents with Airside for their christmas seasonal programme sponsorship.

Using green screen techniques we were responsible for rigging and positioning both the actors and hero props. The designed environment was animated in post.

Watch two of the short idents here and here

We designed and built this beautiful commercial for Nexus...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:59:00 -0500

We designed and built this beautiful commercial for Nexus directors Smith & Faulkes creating a bright leafy suburban street in the world of the Netflix Hamsters.

The houses, fitted out with scale replicas of iconic furniture, were given neatly trimmed lawns, topiary hedges and a working pond and set into tree lined gardens to fully immerse the viewer into the landscape.

Working with the specially trained hamster actors was a new experience for us!

Watch the video here

Chipotle commissioned Nexus director Johnny Kelly to create...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:48:00 -0500

Chipotle commissioned Nexus director Johnny Kelly to create something special for their ‘Food with Integrity’ campaign. He came to us with the brief and together we developed and created the short animated film entitled ‘Back To The Start’. The rigging was an integral part of the modelmaking and set build: barns that build and collapse, a factory complex that grows in bursts, and desiccated fields that flip over to reveal lush pasture on the reverse.

The film is set to a specially recorded version of Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’ performed by Willie Nelson.

View the film here

We helped nexus director,Jim Le Fevre, to realise the biggest...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:48:00 -0500

We helped nexus director,Jim Le Fevre, to realise the biggest phonotrope he could ever imagine for the opening credit sequence to the BBC dramatic comedy Holy Flying Circus.

The phonotrope was featured in the creative review blog

View behind the scenes footage via motionographer

Thunderbirds are back! This commercial sees the return of the...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:47:00 -0500

Thunderbirds are back!

This commercial sees the return of the iconic Thunderbirds characters to our screens. Every model maker’s childhood dream, to be the team that produced the intricate sets and models from the classic TV series.

View here

In this faithful tribute to the original TV show, we re-created...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:46:00 -0500

In this faithful tribute to the original TV show, we re-created the wonderful world of Paddington Bear. Pens and Pencils were added to the usual armoury of drills and saws as we set about drawing and colouring in and cutting out until everything was just perfect.

View here

We revisited Paddington to celebrate his 50th birthday and threw a Marmite birthday party for him.

View here

Ubik’s first short film, made for MTV’s Switch...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:46:00 -0500

Ubik’s first short film, made for MTV’s Switch Campaign to raise eco-awareness.

Shot on location in an schoolroom, it uses 16mm film and childlike proportions in the 3D elements to gently remind us of the responsibility we have to care for our planet.

This short won Ubik the British Television Advertising Craft Award for Best Animation in a Commercial. Well done, chaps.

watch the film here

reported on motionographer here

and a few kind words here from Animation Blog here

This very short film, directed by Johnny Kelly, was made to...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:44:00 -0500

This very short film, directed by Johnny Kelly, was made to celebrate the launch of YouTube Play, a digital creativity competition organised in collaboration with the Guggenheim museum.

Comprising 9 different scenes in under 40 seconds and a complete shift in style with each new scene, this film was a wonderful challenge.

watch the ident here

watch the behind-the-scene documentary here

read a few kind words on the creative review blog here

view the behind the scenes photo gallery here

Working with director Rebecca Manley we created our very own,...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 06:40:00 -0500

Working with director Rebecca Manley we created our very own, real life level of the hit playstation game Little Big Planet to celebrate it’s release on the handheld PSP console.

watch it here

We constructed a multi-plane table and painstakingly cut out...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:18:00 -0500

We constructed a multi-plane table and painstakingly cut out hundreds of fuzzy felt replacement parts to build up the idyllic countryside and characters for this series of lovely Anchor Butter commercials, directed by Tobias Fouracre. Have a look for yourself:

We revisited this technique again when Anchor Butter wanted their fuzzy felt cows to recreate the famous motorbike scene from The Great Escape

Tate & Lyle commissioned this short film to proudly remind...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:09:00 -0500

Tate & Lyle commissioned this short film to proudly remind us of their Fairtrade approach to sugar production. Built entirely from sugar paper, these models and weather effects create a familiar, comforting advert which leaves us wanting a pot of tea

view here

As a tie-in with their CORSA campaign, MTV’s UnderTheRadar...

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 13:12:00 -0500

As a tie-in with their CORSA campaign, MTV’s UnderTheRadar website featured the exploits and adventures of the smash hit ,all puppet band ‘The CMONS’.

We created props, costumes and instruments for the band, then rigged and puppeteered them in a series of MTV.UTR stings. Each one followed the band as they lived their heavy rock & roll lifestyle on the road.

Behind the scenes photo gallery here

Directed by Daniel Greaves of Tandem Films, this group of Ribena...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:13:00 -0500

Directed by Daniel Greaves of Tandem Films, this group of Ribena commercials show the great lengths gone to by a small band of blackcurrants to achieve their nirvana - the ribena farm.

Building sets and models on a whole variety of scales, from a topographical map to a full scale tree (horizontally!) and building rigs to operate as tractors, motorbikes and road sweepers made this a wonderful project to work on.

Liquidator

Mud

Currant Affairs

We got back together to work with acclaimed director Mark Waring to create a series of 1950’s americana adventures for the Ribena blackcurrants to feature as sponsorship idents for the show ‘Grease Is The Word’

Dancehall

Flames

Garage

Working with award winning animator and director Daniel Greaves...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:47:00 -0500

Working with award winning animator and director Daniel Greaves we created a series of idents for the monthly Guardian ‘Guide to….’ magazine.

For these Learn Direct commercials , Director and Designer Dave...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:21:00 -0500

For these Learn Direct commercials , Director and Designer Dave Daniels envisaged a mixed media stop motion project. The idea was to visually describe the versatility of the Learn Direct program and it’s variety of teaching methods.

We took the outline and developed the story using changes in animation style to portray the evolving skills of the characters.

View one of the adverts here

With the Corsa’s link to MTV’s UnderTheRadar puppet...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:40:00 -0500

With the Corsa’s link to MTV’s UnderTheRadar puppet band ‘The CMONS’, this commercial features interactive puppeteering and live action.

A full cast of ‘model’ crew acted out, for the camera, the role’s that we ourselves were performing behind the lens, whilst we controlled the family of puppets who, as you will see, couldn’t help but messing things up.

Watch this here

Another chance to work with the delightful Ubik, this collection...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:36:00 -0500

Another chance to work with the delightful Ubik, this collection of adverts for the Saga Group sets out to demonstrate the variety of Products and Services they offer.

Covering Cruises, Travel Insurance and Carb Breakdown cover, all for the over 50’s, these ad’s use a wide variety of techniques to tell their story, making them great fun to design, make and build.

Bunny ears

Spent that too

Cruises

behind the scenes photo gallery

For this dramatic advert we created a freestanding kitchen room,...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:24:00 -0500

For this dramatic advert we created a freestanding kitchen room, allowing any wall to be removed as needed. Then we built the models, including some enormous cocopops, 15 times their normal size and a fully pre-animated bridge made entirely from the cereal.

Rigging took various forms, from the cupboard door thats bursts open, to the rotating fan which blows our hero cocopops across to the breakfast bowl, along with a whole variety of demonstration rigs which gave the CG dept the vital information they needed to create the individual ‘pops.

watch here