Doug Purver served as director, DP and lead VFX artist on this spec piece in which a pair of photo-real New Balance shoes are seen running along a gritty New York street. With each step, the shoes leave behind a patch of greenery and flowers, showing how New Balance is reducing the carbon footprint one step at a time. Purver collaborated closely on the job with VFX studio Suspect.
Visual Effects: SUSPECT Doug Purver, lead VFX artist; Rob Appelblatt, Tim Crean, exec producers; Dave White, Andrew Cohen, technical directors; Ricardo Vicens, sneaker animation; Lee Wolland, shoe rigging; Steve Burger, CG artist; Jimbo Rowel, additional shader/texture artist; John Geehring, camera tracking.
Music: Q Department, New York
The Best Work You May Never See: Blinkink Director Jack Brown Takes Us On A Teddy Bear’s Journey For Tekla
Blinkink director Jack Brown created this stop motion film to tell a handmade story for Tekla’s holiday campaign.
Established in Copenhagen in 2017, Tekla was born from a desire to bring modernity and freedom of expression to the homeware category. As a brand, it rejects rapid trend cycles by designing for longevity, with an uncompromising focus on quality and responsible production. Brown’s use of stop-motion animation, using only Tekla fabrics, places both the brand’s story and its values front and center.
The film takes us on the journey of a teddy bear exploring the enchanted interiors of the Tekla Copenhagen store. The vibe feels dreamlike and the addition of stop motion adds a tenderness to the film. Inspired by the stories of Hans Christian Andersen, the campaign features iconic figures and nods to his fairytales; the towering mattresses of The Princess and the Pea, the magical umbrella of The Sandman, and the floating luggage of The Flying Trunk.
Brown said, “What an amazing little project this was, and for such a great brand. Tekla was such a cool client to work with. I suggested making the whole ad out of their fabrics and within 24 hours, there were boxes of beautiful fabrics being delivered for us to cut to pieces. Everything you see is about the size of an A4 sheet of paper and all hand cut, stitched and animated by a very small team of very talented people. Anita Bruvere was the lead builder and animator and did such an amazing job of turning all these tiny pieces of fabric into a magical world.”
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