This film conceived by London agency adam&eveDDB for clients John Lewis and Waitrose introduces us to a girl named Ava and her friend Edgar. The latter is a young dragon who lacks control when he breathes fire, thus causing Christmas festivities to often go up in smoke and alienating townsfolk in the process. However Ava looks to win back the community’s love for Edgar by getting him to light the Xmas pudding.
Dougal Wilson of production house Blink directed “Excitable Edgar,” with visual effects from Untold Studios.
Credits
Client John Lewis/Waitrose Agency adam&eveDDB, London Richard Brim, chief creative officer; Matt Gay, creative director; Simon Lloyd, creative; Sally Pritchett, film producer; Hayley Carter, integrated producer; Chris Battye, digital producer; Claire Peacock, assistant digital producer; Jessica Taylor, head of content; Ben Sharpe, Cave Ellison, heads of integrated production; Martin Beverley, executive strategy director. Production Blink Dougal Wilson, director; Joost van Gelder, DP; Ewen Brown, producer; Andy Kelly, production designer; Katie Giovanni, home economist; Ellie Britton, production manager. Editorial Final Cut Sound Factory Studios VFX Untold Studios, London Diarmid Harrison-Murray, creative director VFX; Alex Gabucci, Amir Bazazi, VFX supervisors; Tim van Hussen, animation supervisor; Ian Berry, exec producer VFX; Neil Davies, ECD; Nell Lloyd-Malcolm, producer VFX; Michael Diprose, asset lead; Aaron Hopwood, Daniel Kmet, Joffrey Zeitouni, Nicolas Seck, Sauce Villas, Jakub Krompoic, animation & rigging artists; Denis Krez, Doruk Saglam, Gustavo Ribeiro, Luke Massingberd, Matthew (Wispy) Clarke, Thiago Vilas Boas, Julie Cruette, comp artists; Amandine Comes, Andreu Lucio, Annie Rowland, Ardahan Sernaz, Baptist Jaquemet, Cindy Libbrecht, Daniel Longe, Emre Sumer, Kenny Ip, Manon Cauzid, Marc Picco, Marcel Ruegenberg, Platon Filimonov, Ran Manolov, Simon Legrand, Yaz Raji, CG artists; Andrew Brooks, Aurelian Ronceray, Fabio Santoro, Lino Khay, Therese Larsson, DMP/concept artists (Toolbox: Flame, Nuke, Photoshop, Houdini, Maya, Zbrush, Mari, Substance, Arnold)
After losing part of his right leg due to cancer, Terry Fox campaigned to raise national awareness and funding for cancer research by running his Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada 42-km daily run, on his prosthetic leg. Fox, who died in 1981, is a national hero. His image will be on Canada’s new $5 bill.
In this two-minute video titled “Finish It,” the Marathon of Hope is recreated. It’s all done in one take, and it features an actor/marathon runner who uses a prosthesis on the same leg as Fox. CGI was deployed to make him look more like Fox. To further ensure the actor represented Fox accurately, not only did the actor and team watch and study many videos of Terry, but Terry’s brothers, Fred and Darrel, coached the actor on Terry’s running style and mannerisms. They also created a copy of Terry’s prosthesis for the actor to use for the shoot.
The message is clear. As the Marathon of Hope now marks its 45th anniversary, we now have the opportunity to “Finish It” for Fox, raising money and awareness to get a cure for cancer over the finish line, completing the work that Fox started. The public service film starts with Fox on the marathon run, eventually joined by a crowd of other dedicated runners from all walks of life who take over the race.
Mark Zibert directed via production company Scouts Honour for Toronto agency Diamond. The video features a never-before-heard version of the song “Courage” from Canadian band The Tragically Hip.
“We wanted to create a campaign that captures the magnitude of Terry Fox’s legacy while driving meaningful action,” said Peter Ignazi, chief creative officer at Diamond. “By revisiting the Marathon of Hope with such care and reverence, we aimed to reignite Terry’s mission and... Read More
