Pete Candeland of Friends Electric directed this animation spot for Great Western Railway featuring The Famous Five, a group of adventurous young children and their dog Timmy from the series of novels by English author Enid Blyton.
Titled “Five and the Missing Jewels," this ad out of agency adam&eveDDB, London, has the Famous Five chasing a scoundrel. And they’re able to stay in hot pursuit of him thanks to the Great Western Railway transit system.
Friends Electric worked in tandem with sister VFX/animation/post shop Electric Theatre Collective on the commercial, which is the second for the Great Western Railway that Candeland directed starring The Famous Five. Once again, Candeland meticulously crafts classic painterly images true to Blyton’s series of novels, realized with an adept use of CG.
Credits
Client Great Western Railway Agency adam&eveDDB, London Ben Tollett, group executive creative director; Matt Woolner, Steve Wioland, creatives; Louise Richardson, TV producer. Production Friends Electric, Los Angeles Pete Candeland, director; Neil Riley, TD; Ryan Goodwin-Smith, Belinda Blacklock, exec producer; Sian Jenkins, Adriana Wong, producers; Kristian Antonelli, character design; Yohann Auroux, storyboard artist; Brian Raess, editor. Painting Practice Billy Stockwell, art direction & DMP. VFX/Animation Electric Theatre Collective, London Daryl Graham, Tim Sanpher, Eleonora Quario, 2D animation; Taran Spear, Alex Prod’Homme, Courtney Pryce, Max van Leeuwen, Tom Humphrey, compositors; Sergio Morales Paz, Steve Beck, Paul Templeman, Annie Rowland, Joffrey Zeitouni, Lou Thomas, Paco Rocha, Stephane Renaldi, Borja Massa, Dana DiGioia, Joao Pires, Ashley Anderson, Gregory Martin, Daniel Rico, Hillary McCarthy, and Kimon Matara, CG team. Modeling Interference Pattern (Toolbox: Maya, Houdini, TVPaint) Audio 750MPH, London Sam Ashwell, Mark Hellaby, sound design & mix; Mary-Ann D’Cruz, audio producer. Music Supervision Company Theodore Tom Stanford, music supervisor. Licensor Enid Blyton Entertainment, Hachette Karen Lawler, head of licensed content.
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.”
