Elliot Dear on Animating an Epic for O2

Wednesday saw the launch of an epic animated film created by London agency VCCP to celebrate O2's long-running sponsorship of the England rugby team ahead of next week's World Cup on home soil. The aim of the ad is to galvanise the nation to get behind the country by wearing the English rugby rose on shirts, badges and in the virtual world and the enchanting story goes far beyond the film (which you can read about here from O2).

The emotive piece sees the players growing physically taller with each sign of support they see until they tower above Twickenham ahead of their first game. Blinkink's Elliot Dear (above, shot by Martin Cartwright) is the director behind the animated beauty and below, the talent talks about creating a film inclusive to all and how he spent months working with his team to deliver the piece in time for the big kick-off next week.

What initially appealed to you about the script?

The script appealed to me straight away as it felt very classic. Although it dealt with a specific, contemporary event for a modern brand, it had a very timeless quality. The script also had lots of great potential for imagery from the start and many of the sections were easy to chisel into nice set-pieces.

Where do you start on a job like this?

As with all advertising it really starts with a message. We had to keep a clear idea of what the film had to do. In a similar way to writing any story, we needed to know our theme and focus on it. A clear message and an exact amount of time (two minutes) in which to tell your story helps to keep you on track and not get distracted. Every shot that goes in has to serve a purpose - there's really not much time to dilly-dally.

I worked with our lead animator Michael Schlingmann on the storyboarding. We started with broad strokes and then got ruthless with the editing – cutting every shot that wasn't needed, even if we loved it. There were a lot of nice shots that didn't make the edit.

Tell us about the animation technique you opted for and why was it suited for the film?

The agency wanted to appeal to a wider audience. They wanted to include all the family - the idea being that die-hard rugby fans would recognise the players even in animated form, and that the overall aesthetic would appeal to people who weren't so familiar with the players, or even the sport. The film is about including everyone and getting everyone behind the team, and the technique we chose is very accessible and in many cases nostalgic. It's quite a warm aesthetic with just the right amount of slick.

I wanted to give the animation a freshness by using CG to plan the backgrounds and camera moves. The film is peppered with 3D camera moves through hand-drawn backgrounds, which gives it a dynamism that you don't always see in traditional 2D animation. It meant that I wasn't limited in terms of the camera moves I wanted - I could move the camera in a way more similar to live action.

And it hasn’t just been about the animation. How has it been having to interact and learn the mannerisms of the players that feature?

Recognition was very important to us making this film, and what makes a person goes deeper than just what they look like - that's why it was important to study the players' body language. We looked at how the guys walked, sat down, stood up etc. and how they interacted with each other too. Very often there's a mannerism or expression that's unique to a person - it may be the thing that makes them stand out from others - so we tried to find those things and weave them into the animated characters.

You’ve been leading a large team on the production, but what’s been the most challenging part from a personal point of view?

I think one of the biggest challenges is consistency. Finding an aesthetic that works for the job is one thing, but communicating that idea to dozens of people - often artists working abroad too - can be a real task. Every animator, background artist and designer has a ‘native' style - a particular process and habits. I had to recognise each person's specific way of working and understand how to guide them through the project so that we'd end up with a seamless film with a unified visual language.

Sound has been a big part of the production too – tell us about that aspect…

Working on adverts, it's always been a goal for me to get an orchestral piece specifically scored. The fact that we managed to get such a wonderful piece of music composed by Theo Vidgen and recorded at Abbey Road just seemed too good to be true. I was expecting someone to bowl in and pull the plug any second, but the whole thing went really well and everyone was very pleased. The experience of watching a 65-piece orchestra perform a piece of music for something I directed was truly electrifying. I didn't realise how much I would enjoy it until the moment they started to play. It was very inspiring and a real treat towards the end of a long project.

And the story goes beyond the two-minute film with smaller clips planned to air. How hard was it to manage all the parts and give everything enough time and effort? 

I can't take any credit for the management of these things. My producer Ben Lole is very good at handling multiple tasks and tries to keep me as focussed as possible. Often on this project it has felt like when you try to carry all of your washing from the machine to the washing line in one go: If you attempt to take it all on, you're going to end up dropping loads of socks along the way. We've tried not to load my brain up too much in one go on this.

What are your hopes for the campaign in the context of such a big sporting occasion and the fact it’s being held on home turf?

I just hope that people feel we've done the event and the team justice. I'm not really part of any sporting community, so I've had to try to understand the spirit of the sport, the event and the fans. I think that this film works well as a standalone story, so that's a pretty good start.

To read more about the concept of the epic ad, read this interview with VCCP ECD Darren Bailes.