This animation spot for South Africa salt brand Cerebos tells the story of Mpho, a little girl who dreams of snow, despite living in the semi-desert natural region of Karoo. Her grandparents intervene to help her dream come true–with a little help from Cerebros.
Tulips and Chimneys, a lauded African short-form animation company repped by Strange Beast in the US/UK/Europe, teamed with agency FCB Durban and another studio, BlackGinger, to bring “Snow” to fruition.
A lot of thought went into the shape of the characters. “Mpho is shaped like an upside-down triangle,” said director Ree Treweek of Tulips and Chimneys. “Her cuteness factor largely comes from her having such a big head in relation to her body and her tiny feet. Her grandma on the other hand is bell-shaped, completely the opposite or rather the reverse of Mpho. Her shape is an ode to her larger-than-life personality. She is definitely the matriarch of the family. Gramps on the other hand is a skinny bean of a man. He takes up very little space in the house and is quiet and unassuming. However, he observes everything so closely and in the end it’s his patient tinkering and exquisite mind that brings so much joy to Mpho and Grandma.”
Tulips and Chimneys used a combination of stop motion and CG for “Snow,” creating the miniatures in-house and collaborating with BlackGinger on the animation.
It took a team of three four weeks to put together the miniature set, as just building the lounge required 24 different types of material and 31 loose items were created just to dress the kitchen.
Treweek said they also had a lot of fun set-decorating the exterior shots. “The textured ground was a mixture of sand, tiny pebbles and tea! We then added hundreds of tiny sprigs of rosemary that lead up to the larger bushes that were created with moss died different colors.”
