Five famous paintings are brought to life through animation–however even those unfamiliar with these works are drawn into the storyline which plays out like a helter skelter adventure. We open on a medieval warrior in the throes of battle. (Art aficionados would realize he is in Eugene Delacroix’s noted painting “The Battle of Taillebourg”.)
The warrior isn’t just embroiled in a conflict; it becomes clear that he has a conflict raging within. He breaks his sword across his knee and flees the scene, apparently no longer wanting to inflict death and injury upon others.
He ends up, though, in a totally different environment, snowboarding down a steep mountain (from Katsushika Hokusai’s “Gaifu Kaisei”).
But there’s no rest for the weary. The odyssey continues as he comes down the incline to find himself disrupting a picnic in a Victorian-style setting (from Georges Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte”).
Next our protagonist is in a sandy beach-like scene, running for his life from a giant-sized leg that’s looking to stomp him out of existence. Unfortunately this leg can see where it’s going because it has a giant eye perched atop it (from Joan Miro’s “Manbirdstone”).
Escaping with his very life, the warrior comes upon a slightly ajar door–from which brilliant illumination comes forth, with the musical accompaniment of the workers’ song “Which Side Are You On.” It’s as if nirvana is on the other side (from Rene Magritte’s “La Victoire”). But we never see what lurks beyond that door.
Instead we get an eye-opening perspective as the camera reveals we are indeed in an art gallery, with the five paintings proudly on display, hung in a row.
The :60 concludes with a message appearing against a dark backdrop: “Keep Walking,” which is the slogan for Johnnie Walker’s Scotch whisky brand. We then see the Johnnie Walker icon character next to the slogan.
This journey across paintings hanging in an art gallery–going through history and finally to the present–was attained through a mix of painstaking traditional animation and computer graphics from Aardman Animations, Bristol, U.K., for agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), London. There’s also a smattering of live action when we arrive at the art gallery.
The BBH team consisted of creative director John Hegarty, art director Justin Moore, copywriter Steve Robertson and producer Alice Peppiatt.
Bobby Proctor and Pat Gavin directed for Aardman, with John Woolley executive producing, Fred de Bradeny serving as production manager and Stephanie Shaw as production coordinator. De Bradeny also was first assistant director for the live-action unit. The DP was Peter James.
Aardman’s supervising animators were Sergio Delfino, Shaun Magher, Mark Williams, Adam Cootes and Bram Ttwheam. Animators included Williams, Cootes, Pascale Bories, Henry Lutman and Tom Gavin. Among the modelers were Lutman, Cootes, Ttwheam, Mikey Ford, Tom Lord, Jay Clarke and Steve Roberts. Technical directors were Tom Downes and Philip Child.
In-house editor was Dan Williamson. Post facility was The Mill, London.
