Sumo Science / Aardman: “Making of Gulp”
A mobile phone, a beach and a hoard of energetic people, can only mean one thing. No, not Spring Break but a Guinness World Record. Involving industry giants Nokia, Wieden + Kennedy and Aardman as well as the stop-motion savvy duo, Sumo Science.
After their success with the ‘Smallest Stop-motion Animated Character’ ‘Dot’, Aardman creative team Sumo Science directors Will Studd and Ed Patterson were challenged to go large. Sumo Science are an award winning directing duo specializing in different forms of animation whose aim is to create a fresh mix of styles using elements of stop-motion, puppetry, 2D and live-action.
Shot entirely on the new Nokia N8 smartphone, Gulp showcases the Carl Zeiss optics and its 12-megapixel photography capabilities. Three phones elevated 36 meters above the ground on a cherry picker on a beach in South Wales, UK, shot a canvas of 42.71 meters x 24 meters creating the ‘World’s Largest Stop-motion Animation Set’.
”Gulp is crazily ambitious. We’ve never done anything even approaching this enormous scale before and it’s a massive technical, logistical and artistic learning curve – once again! We’re working right at the edge of what’s possible in all areas,” says Heather Wright, Executive Producer at Aardman.
“The film was a huge test of planning and coordination with Mother Nature, we were incredibly lucky with conditions and tide times, sometimes we got our final frame for the day just as the waves crashed in around our set! Obviously the turnaround had to be so quick with such a short window, but working with the W + K team was fantastic as usual and we got everything we set out to achieve. The Nokia N8 stood up to the challenge and produced some outstanding images.” Says Will of Sumo Science.
The detail and talent in a project of this size and ambition is stunning, but I won’t tell you what happens, watch it for yourselves…GULP
Words by Gem Barton
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