In a short that would rival any Christmas advert in the cuteness stakes, Blue Zoo have revealed their hotly anticipated Christmas short, Lynx & Birds.
In a timely story about love triumphing over fear, we follow the story of two adorable birds in an Attenborough-esque wildlife mockumentary, that unwittingly reveals a chink in the food chain. When the birds come face to face with a fearful predator, the lynx, there is a surprising turn of events that’s sure to warm the cockles.
Now in its sixth year, Blue Zoo run an incredibly popular company-wide shorts programme to encourage experimentation in the studio and a culture of creative collaboration. Everyone in the studio has the opportunity to pitch their idea, and everyone votes for their favourite, making it unique and entirely democratic. There was much excitement when the Christmas brief was brought to the table back in July, with two requirements - to produce a characterful creature and to create fur. Lots of it. Animation Director Simone Giampaolo and Art Director Francesco Mazza decided to take this to the extreme, producing a storyline with enough fur and feathers to test the capability of any render farm.
The lynx is a character not commonly seen on our screens, so hat’s off to Blue Zoo’s look dev team who researched every movement, characteristic and behaviour of the lynx, to produce possibly Blue Zoo’s finest ever creature. Typical of Blue Zoo’s shorts, there’s humour in abundance, and even the lynx is comical despite his facade, in a pantomime villain kind of way.
And all this beautiful nature at play to a cinematic soundtrack of a 40-piece orchestra, composed by the legendary Brollyman.
Says Tom Box, Co-Founder of Blue Zoo Animation, “We always encourage our artists to challenge themselves and the studio with each new short, and this time they've really smashed our expectations to bits! From creating the challenging animals covered in beautifully rendered fur to working with an epic 40-piece orchestra, we couldn't be prouder of the film everyone has collaborated to make.”
Full Credits
Production Company: Blue Zoo Animation Studio
Directed by: Francesco Mazza & Simone Giampaolo
Art Direction & Design: Francesco Mazza
Animation Direction: Simone Giampaolo
Music: Brollyman
Narration: Darren Altman
Lead Modeller: Pietro Licini
CG Supervisor: Gherardo Zurla
Modelling & Texturing: Pietro Licini, Mélanie Gras, Hannah Wong
Head of Look Dev: Negar Bagheri
Grooming & Look Dev: Arthur Tibbett, Hannah Wong
Rigging, simulation and FX: Anthony Delliste
Lead Animator: Simone Giampaolo
Animators: Jim Sweeting, Owen Fern, Zoé Risser
Lighting TDs: Hannah Wong, Gherardo Zurla, Steven White
Compositing: Hannah Wong, Elaine Thomas, Negar Bagheri, Gherardo Zurla
Additional Art: Izzy Burton
Pipeline Team: Jay Tsang, Phil Stewart
Producer: Tom Box
Production Managers: Lizzie Hicks, Negar Bagheri
Voice Effects: Alec Smith
Sound Design & Mix: John Sutherland
VO Sound Engineer: Dom Boucher @ The Sound Company
Special Thanks:
Brollyman and Matthew Slater, Adam Shaw, Damian Hook,
Joe Kinch, Sophie Rekasowski, Carole Baskin, Catherine Gallo,
Jacques Gauthier, Fabrizia Spera, Alessandra Battaglia and all our families.