Tobias Hall x Greene King
Tobias' illustrations flicker to life in this ambitious zoetrope/projector animation using 355 laser cut cans and a whole loada’ ingenious planning
Handsome Frank illustrator Tobias Hall was tasked with creating the characters and assets to form the animation for Greene King's latest ad campaign.
While the resulting 30 second clip could easily be mistaken as a very well rendered CGI composite, it is in fact the result of 355 individually laser cut cans. Maybe just reread that for a second. Three hundred and fifty five individually laser cut cans.
Illuminated from within, the cans project each frame to create a constantly evolving backdrop while wheeling camerawork swings in an action packed scene. Can't wait to see what that looks like? here it is...
The concept was, to be blunt, bonkers. But thanks to the incredible production by Blink Ink and a lot of work by a long list of people (see below!) it was executed to perfection - surely deserving of an award or two..?
Their mind bending planning had to take into account things like changing perspectives, as the light would travel different distances before hitting the contoured surfaces of the surrounding walls.
‘Normal’ laser cut projections would have risked the illustrations becoming entirely distorted when shown against the varied background so Director Balazs Simon at Blink Ink devised complex algorithms to calculate how the laser cut frames needed to be distorted to allow them to be seen straight. Check out his instagram posts for even more detail on how they made it all happen!
In the resulting masterpiece, Tobias’ illustrated elements move seamlessly across both the can and the background as the camera pans upward.
Words hardly do it justice, so you have to watch it to believe it. And if you don’t believe it, or just want to learn more about the work that went into this mad masterpiece, you can check out the incredible behind-the-scenes video that reveals all!
https://www.handsomefrank.com/insights/read/tobias_greeneking
Full list of credits:
Agency: House 337 @house337
Creative Director: Steve Hawthorne @seve7
Art Director: Pete Ioulioanou @pete_ioulioanou
Copywriter: Ollie Agius @ollieagius
Head of Strategy: Laura Sammarco
Account Management:: Rich Williams & Kelly Mahon
Agency Producer: Henry Davies
Production Company: Blinkink @blink_ink
Director: Balázs Simon @notbalasz
Executive Producer: Bart Yates
Executive Producer: Josef Byrne
Head of Production: Alex Halley @alexhalley
Producer: Sami Goddard @samigoddard
Illustration: Tobias Hall @tobiashall
Storyboard Artist: Mysie Pereira @mysiepereira
Laser Cutting: Laser Cut Works @lasercutworks
Studio Manager: Daisy Garside @daisygarside
DOP: Max Halstead @colossal_squid
Gaffer: Elliot Beach @elliot_be
Stop Motion Animators: Andy Biddle @andyrbiddle & Tobias Fouracre @tobiasfouracre, Chris Ullens @chris.ullens
Can Fabrication & Rigging: Andrew Spradbury @albanstudios
Set Build: Mattes and Miniatures @mattesandminiatures_ltd, Leigh Took @leightook, Lauren Took @laurentook, Richard Grant @rgproduct & Mitch Barnes @mitchbarnesmodelmaker
Animation Lead: Reg Isaac @reg_isaac
Animators: Yagizhan Misirli @yagizmisirli & Andrew Clarke @atomiclarke
Clean Up Supervisor: Katherine Spangenberg @katiediazz.art (http://katiediazz.art/)
Clean Up Artists: Dylan Wilson @dylandawilson, Sameera Joshi @_samzoshi_, Kat Michaelides @pbmoth, Jack Zhang @animate_jack
Post House: GYÁR
Grade: Kai Van Beers @1920.vfx
Music: Major Tom @major_tom_music
Sound: Dugal Macdiarmid @kinglearlondon
Shot at Clapham Road Studios @claphamrdstudio