Archive

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

donquixote1 donquixote2 donquixote3 donquixote4
 
© Copyright Terry Gilliam.

"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.

Mercedes G-Code

mercgcode
© Mercedes-Benz.

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.

The Zero Theorem

The Zero Theorem 1 The Zero Theorem 2
© Copyright Terry Gilliam.

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.

Wild man

wildman1 wildman2 wildman3 wildman4
 
© Copyright Kate Bush.

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.

The Rat Pack

Rat Pack 1 Rat Pack 2 Rat Pack 3 Rat Pack 4
© Copyright Michael Zucker.

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.

Health spark

healthspark
© Copyright Hero Media.

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.

EU Growth

EU Growth
 
© Copyright COI.

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.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

© Copyright Poo Poo Pictures Productions Limited.

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

The Gruffalo

Gruffalo Front Credits Gruffalo End Credits
© Copyright Orange Eyes Ltd.

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.

Sony Entertainment Television

© Copyright Sony Entertainment Television.

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.

The Wholly Family

wholly family 1 wholly family 2
© Copyright Terry Gilliam.

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.

Supercars

© GE Fabbri.

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.

Toshiba TG01

© Copyright Topspin Communication Limited.

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.

Godskitchen

GodsKitchen GodsKitchen GodsKitchen
 
GodsKitchen GodsKitchen GodsKitchen
 
GodsKitchen GodsKitchen GodsKitchen
© Copyright PBPTV.

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.

Death At A Funeral

End Titles 1 End Titles 2 End Titles 3
© Copyright VIP Medienfonds

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.

Dr Who & Shrek

tardis 1 tardis 2 Shrek amulets Shrek amulet album
© Copyright GE Fabbri.

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.

Smokin' Aces

© Copyright Universal Pictures.

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.

Virgin Territory

Weeing cherub Trumpet playing cherub Virgin Territory logo
End Titles 1 End Titles 2
 
© Copyright Delta Films Limited.

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.

The Brothers Grimm

© Copyright Dimension Films.

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.

Now That's What I Call Music

Now 98 Now 99 Now 100 Now 101
© Copyright PBPTV.

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.

Thunderbirds logo sequence

Thunderbirds logo Japanese version Inside the machine
© Copyright Universal Pictures International.

Universal Pictures came to Brandt Animation for the creation of the spiritual successor to the Thunderbirds logo which everybody came to love during the ‘70s.

Brandt Animation designed the logo and animated graphic sequences used for trailers worldwide, including japanese and spanish versions.

The opening of the sequence contains digital steam elements, automated pneumatics and digital sprays of electrical sparks.

The logo background is a combination of procedural clouds and live action fireworks.

The Thunderbirds live action extravaganza was released July 2004.

Opera Babes

clef drawers headphones bridge
© Copyright Quick On The Draw Productions.

QD Productions commissioned Brandt Animation to design and create a series of Daliesque backgrounds for the Opera Babes 'Beyond Imagination' CD and the video for 'One Fine Day', the ITV World Cup theme in 2002.

The Babes were shot against greenscreen and integrated with the CG backgrounds for their 2'30" promo.

Working Title

lines gyro
 
© Copyright Working Title.

Brandt Animation create 'Working Title Films' new identity.

Early on in the design process it was decided to drop the word 'Films' from the logo and focus on the shorter 'Working Title', enabling the typography to be integrated more firmly into the logo.

Once the design was in place, a range of ideas and storyboard concepts for the moving ident was presented, one of which was developed into the sequence which can be seen in cinemas and on video worldwide today.

The new logo has also been incorporated into stationery and printed material throughout the company.

In 2010 we adapted the design to create a shorter 2 second sting used at the end of Working Title's productions for television. The on-screen ident was first seen on the company's 2001 releases 'Bridget Jones's Diary' and 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'.

Pharaoh

© Copyright Ravensburger GmbH.

Brandt Animation designed and animated the detailed environments for this twenty second commercial promoting a board game by German games manufacturer Ravensburger.

Timings for the flickering torches were passed onto the character animators as well as rendered wireframes of the backgrounds to ensure perfect integration and continuity between character and environment.

The Borrowers

Borrowers1 Borrowers2
© Copyright PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

The 30 second opening sequence for Director Peter Hewitt's hit movie was created at Brandt Animation.

After the logo was designed and modelled in 3D, each individual letter was animated, pre-empting the fun and action in the film.

Brunch

brunch montage brunch sting brunch logo
© Copyright Antelope South.

The titles for the weekly arts show first broadcast on Channel 5 in 1997, were designed and animated at Brandt Animation.

Hosted by Mariella Frostrup, the show featured interviews with leading personalities in the arts and entertainment world.

The theme music was digitised into our animation workstations, where the piano, saxophone and percussion tracks were used to control selected elements in the design, recreating the bright and positive ambience of the show.

Barb Wire - The Movie

BarbWire1 BarbWire2
© Copyright PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

The title sequence for Pamela Anderson's cinema debut . . . need we say more?

Kuwait PIFSS

roof entrance night
dawn morning
© Copyright A M Hayat Media.

A festive animated film for the opening celebrations of the new landmark building in Kuwait City.
A digital version of the building and a large part of the surrounding city, as well as fireworks and time-lapse dawn effects were created for the programme created by Hayat Media.

The sequence was broadcast in the Middle East in connection with the opening of the new headquarters for the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS) in 2004.

The programme was also distributed to guests, customers, embassies amongst others as a memento of the event. The new PIFSS headquarters will symbolise the importance of the government agency and make a dramatic statement on the city's skyline. The $53M building covers 58,000m2 and is 27 storeys high.

Royal Bank of Scotland

© Copyright Jack Morton Worldwide.

A two minute event-opener for Royal Bank of Scotland illustrating the key issues of the event, such as environment, technology and development.

Pure Jazz Chillout

notes sax guitar
© Copyright Peter Brookes Productions.

The brief for the 'Pure Jazz Chillout' commercial was to create a smoke-filled jazz club atmosphere, and to be able to control the smoke to such a degree that it could form the shapes of musical symbols and instruments.

Since controlling real smoke was not a viable option, Peter Brookes Productions asked Brandt Animation to originate the material.

Manipulating real smoke elements layered with animation generated with our digital particle system allowed us to form the musical notes and instruments required for the commercial.

Always Ultra - Feather

Bird loses a feather Feather Pack shot
© Copyright D'Arcy, Frankfurt/Paris.

Brandt Animation created a digital feather for the Always Ultra campaign. A combination of scanned chicken feathers and video reference material was used to match the CG feather to the close up shots of the real feather shot in the studio.

The CG feather was colourised once edit decisions had determined which of the exotic birds from the shoot was most suitable.

Director Terry Kemble featured the feather throughout the commercial, ending with a long pull out to the pack shot. The feather's flight path was tracked and combined with the layers of live action and physical models to make up the shot.

Ready Brek - Twister Sponsorship

On the roller coaster Pack shot
© Copyright Weetabix Limited.

Fun ride sponsorship stings were created and directed by Lambie Harper and designed by Brandt Animation for the ITV gameshow 'Twister' hosted by Julia Bradbury and first broadcast in 2003.

The 3D roller coaster was inspired by the Ready Brek packaging and the dynamics of the colourful gameshow.

Alway Ultra - Slinky

Slinky Side view Closeup Pack shot
© Copyright D'Arcy Frankfurt/Paris.

Production company Kemble Mantheakis turned to Brandt Animation for the development of a digital 'Slinky' after realising early on that it would be impossible to obtain enough control using traditional models when filming the Always sanitary towels campaign.

An array of procedural animation techniques were devised to simulate the complex movement and maintain an exceedingly high level of control over all aspects of the motion, including speed, motion blur, accurate start/stop positions and motion paths. The final images were achieved using Mental Ray custom shaders enabling total integration with the live action backgrounds.

A large section of the physical stairs used on the shoot was scanned into the computers at Brandt Animation and used to create the grand sweeping stairway featured in the wide shots at the beginning and end of the commercial.

Mr Commitment

Do you want to get married ? W h a t !!! Sigh !
© Copyright Hodder & Stoughton.

Brandt Animation created two animated toothbrushes for the Hodder & Stoughton commercial promoting Mike Gayle's book "Mr Commitment". Written and directed by John Snelgrove from KSA Film & Video, the 10 second commercial features a boy and a girl toothbrush acting out a scene from the book.

"The biggest challenge was to establish the mood of the book via the two individual toothbrush characters in the short screen duration of 8 seconds" says Finn Brandt.

Marconi - Geneva

Datastream Data convergence Access Smart Photonix
© Copyright Tall Order Productions.

Tall Order Productions commissioned Brandt Animation to produce 6 minutes of animation for the big 6 x 10 unit video wall at the Marconi presentation of Smart Photonix in Geneva in 1999.

Motion of live dancers was digitally captured and integrated into the 3D sequences which were synchronised with light, water jets and live dancers on stage.

Three workstations were employed 24 hours a day during the 8 week production schedule, that was the "good" old days!

OVD

ovd1 ovd2 ovd3
© Copyright HP:ICM.

One of many stereoscopic sequence we have created. This one was fronting a short film about crash testing, part of the 'Opel Experience' at the car factory in Germany.

The sequence was originally created to be viewed with digital polarized spectacles, but the images here are generated for anaglyph blue/red specs in case you have a pair handy!

United International Pictures

uip1 uip2
© Copyright United International Pictures.

The on-screen identity for the film distributor was designed and animated at Brandt Animation.

At great expense it was decided to render each frame in 4k to make it "future proof", this was in 1995!

Swiss Bank

Swiss 1 Swiss 2 Swiss 3 Swiss 4
 
© Copyright Passion Pictures Limited.

Sherbet commissioned Brandt Animation to create this eye catching commercial for Schweizerischer Bankverein.

The scenery was composed entirely of animated black dots, forming different environments illustrating some of the activities the bank's customers could get involved in by collecting 'points'.

World Chess Championship

© Copyright Tall Order Productions Limited.

This historic event took place on top of the World Trade Center in New York, when Kasparov defended his title against Anand. The title sequence, break bumpers and a computer generated chess board were produced using what was state of the art hardware and software back in 1995.

Each chess piece was fitted with a hidden micro chip transmitting information about its position to the champions chess board installed by Finn Brandt. The signals were relayed to an array of powerful computers where the data was processed and used for controlling a virtual chess board real-time.

The Intel sponsored event was broadcast on television worldwide.

Cyberspace

virtual world cyberspace transition doors
© Copyright Antelope South.

Brandt Animation designed and created the graphics package for CYBERSPACE, a television series about virtual worlds, the Internet, computer graphics and digital effects in the movies.

The package included titles, breakbumpers, end credits, graphic links and many of the animations within the programme.

It was initially broadcast on ITV and The Discovery Channel in 1996.

Executive producers were Mick Csaky and Krishan Arora from Antelope South.

Kuwait University 2000

Conference Centre VIP lounge Shuwaikh Campus
© Copyright A.M.Hayat Media

As part of the reconstruction of Kuwait City after the Gulf War in 1991, a film showcasing the vision for Kuwait University was created by Hayat Media to generate interest and awareness of the multi billion dollar project. The scope of the video was incredibly ambitious at the time when digital film production was still in its infancy.

We imported several specialist workstations from Silicon Graphics to cope with the computation of the 8000 frames which would make up part of the 36 minute film. Brandt Animation modelled 124 buildings in detailed environments filled with computer generated trees, plants, formal gardens, cars and people.

Twelve interiors were also created. Lobbies, courtyards, corridors, classrooms and lecture halls were modelled, including paintings, marble inlays, furniture, virtual students and much more, enabling viewers to explore the space and interior designs of the buildings.

The Chartshow

Chartshow1 Chartshow2
© Copyright Video Visuals Limited.

Brandt Animation created opening titles, closing titles, break bumpers and a multitude of stings for the television show, which was the most popular music video programme in Britain between 1986 and 1998.

Cinema Media

Cine1 Cine2
© Copyright RSA Advertising.

In 1995 Brandt Animation created the animated sequence for 'Cinema Media' formerly Rank Screen Advertising. The brand sequence was very popular but was changed a year later when screen advertising company Carlton took over.

Microsoft ITForum 04

itforum1 itforum2 itforum3
© Copyright PCI:Live.

Teaser/intro bringing to life the overall brand elements which PCI:Live created for the annual Microsoft conference.

A combination of 2D and 3D animation was used to explore and organise images, logos and words creating a strong branding sequence which was also used as an introduction to the key-note speech delivered by Bill Gates.