Woolmark "Lost & Found"

• published: 12 Jan 2015
• views: 19

Client: WOOLMARK Director: NEON Production/VFX: NEON http://www.neon.tv Tom Bridges, managing director at Neon in London: "The brief from Woolmark was very open: they wanted a film to describe the wool production process in an entertaining way, and to communicate some of the artisanal heritage that belongs to one of the world's oldest textiles. "We came up with the simple idea of looking at the process from a piece of wool's perspective. We'd have a hero piece of wool undergo a series of transformations that mirror – and help to describe – the industrial processes happening in the background. "The main creative challenge we faced was trying to make the narrative work as a complete piece. Our character undergoes a series of dramatic physical transformations during the journey, all of which required a different style of animation – but all of which had to represent the same character. "We were careful not to go over the top with the animation – it's a piece of wool, after all – but we wanted to give it some character to create some drama. We also found it a challenge to tell our story in a visually exciting way. "The technical challenges were myriad. Not least was the wool staple itself, which was an unruly combination of animation and simulation. Again, stitching everything into a seamless whole was a challenge. We shot footage in Biella, Italy and in Huddersfield in the UK. Getting all this footage to intercut with our fully CGI set pieces took a lot of finessing." Schedule: "Woolmark approached us at the end of 2013 and we had a competitive four-way pitch in January, with the job being awarded at the end of February. There was a fair bit of back and forth with the script, but production started in earnest in April and was completed in August 2014." For The Woolmark Company: Ari Kuchar, Kieren Robinson, Julie Davies, Richard Smith For Neon: Concept, design and direction: Neon Animation, CGI and visual effects: Neon Director of photography: Paul O'Callagahan, Simon Hammond Camera assistant: Ben Marshall Shearer: Ben Picker Producer: Rebecca Vine Creative directors: Roland Woolner, Charlie Cassidy Live-action directors: Tom Bridges, Roland Woolner Lead 3D: James Spillman Lead 2D: Roland Woolner Editor: Tom Bridges 3D team: Paul Carpenter, Alice Miggiano, Alex Blomeley Additional compositing: Ben Young Music & sound design: Box of Toys Audio Thanks to: Pier Gorgio Minazio, Pettinatura di Romagnano, Botto Giuseppe, Inco, Spectrum Yarns, Taylor and Lodge, Hillcreston Superfine Wool Stud Toolkit Maya, Cinema 4D, Nuke, F55, RED Dragon, Blackmagic Cinema Camera The original films, music videos and motion design you see on STASH, took a long time to produce by some of the world's top creative minds. Show your appreciation to them, by "liking" it and sharing it on your social networks. Thanks! Stay in touch and subscribe at http://www.youtube.com/stashcreative Follow us on: Google+: http://gplus.to/StashCreative And our affiliate social networks: Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/foliosweep Facebook http://www.facebook.com/foliosweep