This promo for Cartoon Network’s series Over the Garden Wall places viewers inside the beautiful CG/stop-motion animation pages of a forest-woven book, seamlessly transitioning to clips from the 2D animated TV show.

“I wanted to take the well worn old trope of ‘from the vaults’ or ‘magic book opening’ and add a new twist to it,” said director Solomon Burbridge of animation studio BENT Image Lab. “The idea of an infinite tunnel book was a great way to further this idea by giving the interior pages dimension and atmosphere. I wanted this to stand apart from and also support the show that it is promoting.”

Taking artistic inspiration from Victorian parlor tricks and paper craft, the opening shot rests on a practical book that flips open to reveal a CG owl, sitting above a forest path. The  camera sucks the eye down the path and segues to snippets from the actual series.

“The biggest challenge as with most multi-media spots is the integration, making sure it looks as seamless as possible,” said Burbridge. “From the stop motion book to the CG interior it had to seem at once fantastic and believable.”

Credits

Client Cartoon Network Larry Morris, creative director/writer; Calvin Florian, Eric Nelson, sr. production managers; Branden Colilns, designer; Mike Voulgaris, editor; Greg Gause, sound engineer; Jack Jones, voiceover narration. Production Bent Image Lab, Portland, Ore. Solomon Burbridge, director; Ray DiCarlo, Tsui Ling Toomer, exec producers; Robert D’Esposito, producer; Greg Arden, art director; Jesse McManus, designer; Javan Ivey, stop motion animator. VFX Bent Image Lab Orland Nutt, Dan Kim, compositors; Joshua Cox, Stef Kofman, technical directors; Andrew Dieffenbach, CG animator; Galen Beals, lighting technical director; Rian Peterson, CG modeler. Music The Blasting Company Post Bent Image Lab Brent Helse, editor.

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