British Arrows CRAFT 2016
Framestore was extremely proud to be in attendance at the British Arrows CRAFT Awards 2016, held in London on November 23, celebrating advertising's finest work across the year. It was our pleasure too to sponsor the prestigious Fellowship Award, which was presented to esteemed Editor Paul Watts.
There were wins on home turf, too: Gold for the Animation team behind 2015 festive favourite Mog; Silver in the newly formed VR category for our immersive and educational Natural History Museums project; and a very special Gold for Colourist Simon Bourne, who took the award for Best Colourist for the second successive year. Take a browse through the fêted work below, and our congratulations to both the British Arrows and fellow winners and nominees for a spectacular celebration.
Best Colourist
Simon Bourne took home the trophy in the Colourist category, for his work on Hennessy's beautiful campaign 'The Piccards', directed by Daniel Wolfe.
Depicting the legendary feats of Swiss physicist Auguste Piccard, the first man to reach the stratosphere, and his son, who three decades later became the first man to reach the ocean’s deepest point, the commercial is both a visual and technical marvel.
‘When I first saw the rough edit I knew this was going to be special’, said Simon. 'From the get-go I knew Daniel wanted a specific aesthetic, but not to look like a specific era such as the ‘30s or ‘60s for the sake of it. It had to come about naturally’. Simon went through several rounds of grading on the piece, shot on 35mm film, initially using the film’s natural tones to create rich images to contrast standard commercial work. VFX shots were graded separately before being brought into the edit, where Simon completed an overall grade to give the film its cinematic visual tone.
Said Simon, ‘I am very proud of this film, as is everyone involved who worked towards striking perfection. I see it not just as a commercial, but an epic film that will live long in the memory’.
Animation: Character
Who could forget that face? Framestore worked with Sainsbury's and creative agency AMV BBDO to reimagine Judith Kerr's family favourite Mog in 3D form, for a much-anticipated 2016 Christmas ad spot. Director James Rouse worked closely with Framestore's talented artists to craft the perfect feline for the job, developing the creature from original illustration through to fully realised animation. 'Mog’s Christmas Calamity' exceeded all expectations, capturing the attention and hearts of the nation and achieving the accolade of the nation’s most loved Christmas advert for 2015. The wider campaign raised over £1.5million for Save The Children through its associated merchandise, and accrued upwards of 30million YouTube views. A glimpse of how we did it below:
VR / 360°
A new playground this year for Framestore's VR artists, who took the Silver Arrow for their creation 'Rhomaleosaurus & Giraffatitan: Back to Life in Virtual Reality', made for Google Creative Lab and Google Arts & Culture. Unlike many VR experiences which transport audiences to an entirely new setting within the headset, the Natural History Museum project sees creatures come to life within perfectly executed, high resolution recreations of the London and Berlin venues. Framestore's artists pored over the scientific detail of the two extremely rare species depicted in the 360° experiences, drawing on their celebrated work on the BBC's 'Walking with Dinosaurs' series to great effect to bring the important tales of extinction to audiences around the world.
Press play below to explore the submerged halls of London's Natural History Museum, and read more about the mammoth project here.
