"After more than 25 years in the making... and unmaking..." Terry Gilliam returned to Brandt Animation once again for his epically long-awaited film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

The film opens with a shot of an ancient book in Quixote's library, showing a page of text that accompanies Jonathan Pryce's introductory monologue. The layout was designed to feel like the original, early 17th century

edition of de Cervantes's book, and printed onto a blank page in one of Gilliam's antique books for the shoot.

For the main title, the calligraphy of Don Quixote's signature required testing different inks, nibs, papers and styles to get a feel that both reflects his character and works well over the sky in the shot. The animation invokes the turns and beats of a flamenco dancer, and the swish of a sword-tip.

The end titles and credit roller were dressed with elements from Gustave Doré's 19th century illustrations of the story. These were negated to white-on-black which meant they required significant reworking, as many areas didn't work in negative. A lot of replacement elements were created in Doré's style to make the images work.

Vehicle visualisation specialist Mackevision asked Brandt Animation to provide design and animation for the dashboard user-interface of the G-Code concept car, unveiled at the opening of the Mercedes-Benz

R&D centre in Beijing. The short film follows three G-Code drivers in different areas of China communicating prior to their rendezvous at the Beijing event.

Terry Gilliam wanted to combine a 'simple' title with a sequence of a swirling black hole to draw the audience into the first scene of the movie. As the camera pulls back we see the image is displayed on a futuristic computer screen behind a naked Christoph Waltz.

Finding a typeface that would express the mixture of futuristic society and Gothic architecture proved so compromised that we decided to design our own.

To reflect the transformation of the film's central character Qohen (Christoph Waltz), we devised the end titles to contrast the title in both colour and mood.

Following Brazil and Twelve Monkeys, The Zero Theorem is the final part of Terry Gilliam's dystopian satire trilogy.

Kate Bush asked Brandt Animation to create an animated film to accompany her single 'Wild Man' from the acclaimed album '50 Words For Snow'.

The film was created using a combination of traditional artwork and digital animation.

Live action segments of Kate Bush were treated to integrate with the visual style of the piece.

A total of 18 scenes were created, each consisting of up to 41 layers, such as artwork, textures, snow animation, animated Yeti or hunter sequences, live action, mist and light effects.

Although the final film is 2' 33" long a total of 3' 34" of animation was needed to allow for the long transitions which help give the film its dreamlike mood.

Commercials director Michael Zucker brought Brandt Animation in to help create a pilot for his film noir puppet movie.

Exterior and interior digital environments were built to match the miniature sets of thirties New York gangland inhabited by rodent puppets.

A CG spring device was created for a physical boxing glove on set. Digital removal of rods and wires used to control the puppets was required for most scenes.

The script, written by Matt Sunderland from Hero Media, called for a fully animated approach, presenting the ingredient of the product in a visual and accessible style, illustrating the properties of the product.

Very little post-production was needed after completion of the visuals making the production of the commercial very simple and cost effective.

The 30 second television spot was created for leading online health supplement retailer Healthspark.

This animated sequence was based on the pamphlet "Let's Choose Growth", published by Number 10.

It was used behind David Cameron's parliament speech outlining Government plans for the EU, before being made available to other heads of state and circulated on YouTube.

After the success of The Brothers Grimm, Terry Gilliam returned to Brandt Animation with his film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus".

The front title cards were designed to reflect the old and new worlds encountered in the movie.

The inclusion of a tribute to Heath Ledger and producer William Vince, who died during the production, meant that the main titles were placed more comfortably at the end of the film.

To integrate with the final scene which features a Victorian toy theatre, a digital version was designed as a vehicle for major cast and crew credits, and the end roller.

Finn Brandt also created various captions using his talent for traditional penmanship, including the final frame of the movie, "A Film from Heath Ledger and Friends".

Please click here for the Dr Parnassus Showcase

Magic Light Pictures asked Brandt Animation to design the front and end credits for their BAFTA nominated animation short.

It was paramount to integrate the front credits without affecting the flow of the film, while maintaining depth and leaving room for the action of the Squirrel character.

The end credits wanted to be a natural extension of the film as well as acting as punctuation. Extending the snow from the final scene creates a flow through to the end card.

When Sony Entertainment TV challenged Brandt Animation to create a mixture 18 fully animated idents, stings, and promos in just 3 weeks a creative solution was called for.

A single environment featuring a stack of presents in the shape of a Christmas tree was constructed. Objects representing individual programme strands were postioned on the boxes around the tree.

A network of paths through the scene enabled the virtual camera to travel in the various settings forming individual sequences that intercut in a multitude of fashions, creating idents, stings and promos that would all be different without having to render each one separately, an impossible task under the time constraint.

A rare 20 minute short film directed by Terry Gilliam. The design of the title and end credits takes its cues from the religious icons found in Naples' Via San Gregorio Armeno where the film
is set.

Garofalo, the Italian pasta producer who sponsored the film, gave Gilliam completely free hands to do whatever he wanted as long as he didn't harm any children.

303 Productions asked Brandt Animation to create an exotic desert landscape populated with supercars for this magazine commercial.

Two boys are transported to the desert where they find a monster truck and all the sportscars of their dreams.

The environment was rendered with a technique that mimics the way natural light bounces between objects and surfaces causing them to affect each others colouring and brightness.

Shaders that recreate the complex surfaces of the metallic car paint added to the visual richness. As well as creating the digital environment and vehicles, Brandt Animation handled the compositing of green screen performers and the visual effects.

Topspin commissioned Brandt Animation to produce a digital model of the Toshiba TG01 to be used in promotional videos created to launch this new phone.

The videos were first screened at the Consumer Electronics Show 2009.

Producing digital models of new products has become a popular way to generate closeups of design details which cannot be achieved when filming prototypes. This process also allows ultimate control of movement, camera angles and lighting.

In 2005 production company PBPTV asked us to create a range of animated sequences promoting the international superclub's album "Godskitchen Classics"

The diversity of the sleeve designs always called for innovative animation techniques. The video-triggered pin board and shattering glass are a good examples. Brandt Animation quickly became the first choice for the brand's commercials.

Director Frank Oz asked Brandt Animation to design an opening title presenting 37 actors and crew members for the beginning of his awarded film 'Death At A Funeral' without overlapping the live action, without being boring and without using humour, a seemingly impossible task.

We suggested creating a sequence which would explain the journey of the coffin before we see it carried out of the hearse in the first scene, adding to the story without interfering with it and providing a framework for the credits.

Composer Murray Gold's original music converged beautifully with the visuals and gave the opening a subtle sense of humour in keeping with the director's wish to build the climax slowly. We suggested using out-takes in the film's end credits to maintain interest. These clips, combined with visual elements from the front titles, wrapped the comedy nicely.

303 Production commissioned Brandt Animation to produce digital animated elements for a range of commercials for GE Fabbri, the UK‘s major part-work publishing house.

The Tardis and collecting cards were digitally modelled, animated and integrated with live action for "Dr Who Battles in Time" magazine.

For "Shrek‘s Quest" a range of amulets was created including digital environments and props such as collector‘s albums, wooden tables and leafy foliage.

Layers of effects were added including digital magic dust and various other light effects.

Brandt Animation created an exciting and dynamic logo sequence to promote the action packed crime thriller, starring Ben Affleck and Ray Liotta.

Numerous techniques were utilised, including cloud tank footage, computer generated smoke and a combination of simulated and hand animated glass shards, to achieve a dynamic but controllable explosion triggered by the flying bullet.

Brandt Animation created the opening and closing titles for David Leland‘s romantic comedy starring Hayden Christensen, Mischa Barton, Chris Egan and Tim Roth.

Set in Florence during the black plague, the film was shot on location in and around the Siena region in Italy.

The opening title features a journey through the sky ending on a painted version of Siena cathedral which fades into the first scene of the film.

It was natural to reflect some of the renaissance style of the locations in the design of the titles, with painted cherubs in cheeky poses referring to antics in the film.

A digital multi-plane shoot allowed full control over the timing of the animated paintings which were created using a combination of traditional and digital tools.

This was the first title we designed for Terry Gilliam. Little did we know it would be the beginning of many creative collaborations.

For "The Brothers Grimm" we created a range of ink paintings with shapes and textures hinting at enchanted forests and mystical creatures, to pull the audience into the movie, building up anticipation without letting the cat out of the bag.

All artwork was created traditionally, scanned and imported into our 2D and 3D software. This process allowed maximum control over timing and incorporation of additional animated elements such a misty version of the evil queen, flying ravens and grabbing tree hands.

Gilliam was keen to exploit Finn's calligraphy expertise to produce a distinctive and original logo influenced by italian, german and french penmanship. Brandt Animation produced many other elements for the movie, including handwritten captions and the film's end titles.

Virgin Music's flagship series is going from strength to strength, now selling more than 4 million copies.

Brandt Animation has been involved in developing the brand for the UK commercials since 1996, and more recently for the American market, ensuring a place in the top 20 every time.

Please click here to see stills from our previous NOW commercials.