ITV Euro 2020

A TV ad & Ian Wright?

Took a few days to sink in that we’ve worked on a TV 📺 ad that will be seen by 35M people, the Euro 2020 Animation. Someone actually trusted us that we wouldn’t F it up.

Ian Wright is as cool in real life as he come across on the telly. We want you to know this. He is a top bloke 👊🏾. On the shoot he lifted everyone’s mood, wanted to know people’s names and what they did. He never got aggy in any way. Even with us and the director asking him to do ‘that just one more time’.

Shooting to final animation lock was just 20 days. The editors at stitch managed to get the edit locked up in 4 days. Amazing work. We had about 16 days including weekends to add our animation on top.

ITV‘s Simon Sanderson produced this like an octopus 🐙 on speed 👃🏽. But like a wise octopus, he foresaw where all the pinch points were and gently caressed all parties carefully through. And the visionary director Claire Norowzian, who had the daft idea to try this, was amazing to work with. She kept us on our toes encouraging us to push the animation harder. She’s got a decent taste in music too – props for the Ocean Wisdom track.

The Team

We worked with a fantastic team of freelancers – up to 8 or 9 people at a time on our busiest days – including Kervin Brisseaux, a ruggedly talented illustrator from NYC whose unique style added another level to the piece.

Animation

Frame by frame animation work is always a mammoth undertaking. We worked on the first shot of animal mascots flying out of the phone from day one all the way up to the day of delivery.

We incorporated a lot of 3D elements with a 2D look to help fill out the wider shots. In fact, we made all of the footballs in 3D using a toon shader. This let them fit in seamlessly with the hand drawn animation.

So please sit back, enjoy the sunshine ☀️, watch the footy ⚽! It’s Time to relax because restrictions are lifting and the UK can swing again.