Meanwhile team up with Blinkink for Chester Zoo and Sony Music spectacle
Chester Zoo and Sony Music/RGL are building anticipation for their brand-new winter Lanterns and Light trail with a campaign by Meanwhile—co-founded by James Cross, Tim Jones and Al Marchant—who have collaborated with Blinkink director Isabel Garrett to create a film for its launch.
The film uses a mix of techniques, with live-action, handcrafted miniature sets mixed with 2D animated characters, and depicts the magic and awe that the attraction promises visitors. Meanwhile also worked with Jacob Wheeler to create a suitably magical soundtrack for the work, which was handled through Major Tom.
The mixed-media world will be used across all aspects of the far-reaching campaign.
Head of marketing at Chester Zoo, Helen Dean said; “Our new Lanterns and Light night-time event will transform the zoo into a spectacular festive light trail like no other. So, we needed a campaign that would be as creative, distinct, and as unique as the event itself.
"We rely on visitors to fund our vital conservation work, so by engaging people with this kind of next level creativity, we can hopefully change consumer behaviour in our favour too.”
Collaboration between Meanwhile’s founders and Blinkink is longstanding, dating from the multi-awarded 2018 World Cup ‘Tapestry’ for the BBC, through to last year’s BAFTA-nominated Winter Olympics film, also for the broadcaster.
And it’s a relationship that is very important to Meanwhile founder, Tim Jones; “To match the ambition of the zoo and get it the attention it deserves, we’re always looking to represent it in fresh and surprising ways, and in our minds Blinkink, and in this instance, Isabel, were the dream collaborators.”
Credits
Client: Chester Zoo and Sony Music/RGL
Creative Agency: Meanwhile
Production Company: Blinkink
Director: Isabel Garrett
Producer: Jack Pollington
Exec Producer: Bart Yates
Head of Production: Alex Halley
Concept artist and character designer: Rafalia Raikova
2D animator: Jac Clinch
2D animator: Hozen Britto
Clean-up animator: Will Owoye
Clean-up animator: Ruben Berkeley O’Reilly
Compositor: Simone Ghilardotti
Compositor: Maria Tedemalm
Music, Sound Design and Mix: Jacob Wheeler @ Major Tom
Production Designer: Brin Frost
Model Maker: Kat Simpson
Model Maker: Emma Niemis
Director of Photography: Daniel Morgan
Gaffer: Charlie Jenkins
Animator and storyboard artist: Ewa Luczkow
Art assistant: Lamide Olusegun
Edit assistant: Isabel Gomez
Shot at: Studio Linguini
BTS filmmaker: Joe Eckworth
Runner: Zach Mercier
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