Santa suits up for BridgeClimb
Our friends at Sydney BridgeClimb approached us to develop their annual Christmas E-Card. With an entirely open brief,
we jumped at the chance to do something a little different… so we decided to send Santa up the bridge!
Inspired by the Ali G TV title sequence, our idea was to see Santa ‘suit-up’, before stomping up the iconic Harbour Bridge for a view of the city.
We designed Santa to fit into an XXL jumpsuit, and then animated him using a combination of traditional techniques and 2D animation.
Combining the iconic experience with Santa was the perfect way to help BridgeClimb close out the year.
Character Design
The inspiration for Santa's look was Robert Redford meets Alec Baldwin after a few pies. Slightly disproportionate – an oversized torso, small head, muscular arms, tiny feet, a majestic beard… all adding to the charm of our Santa. We dressed him in the iconic Bridgeclimb one piece jump suit, but wait till you see what's underneath!
Animatic
Considering the scale of the project at hand, we wanted the development to be as smooth as possible – ensuring all stakeholders were on the same page. The sequence featured several non-traditional camera angles and it was imperative that this was communicated as clearly as possible before the heavy animation stage commenced.
Starting with a strong animatic was essential to firstly lock down timings, and secondly, convey the tone and mood of the finished piece as early as possible.
Frame by Frame
Once the animatic was approved, our animation team took the static designs and begun to weave their magic to bring them to life. We mixed traditional 2D animation with cel animation to achieve a hand-crafted and life-like feel.
The satisfaction of seeing our Santa come to life was the best Christmas present we could get.
