A Manchester animation Company is one of the organizations involved in the making of Sainsbury’s Christmas Ad that appears on TV for the first time tonight.
Mackinnon and Saunders, based in Altrincham, worked with Passion’s award-winning digital animation team and their ZBrush guru Glen Southern to bring these fantastic designs to life.
Cutting edge 3D print processes were used alongside their traditional craft skills to deliver an amazing cast of characters which will be seen in the advert which features James Corden as the voice of time poor Dad Dave and his cunning plan to be everywhere this Christmas.When he arrives home late and finds he has missed his children’s bedtime, he spots a gingerbread man they have made in his image.
He suddenly has an idea, that actually the best gift he can give them is his own time. So he makes several clones of himself – a tapping monkey, a nodding dog, a toy plane, a dancing robot – and sends them to all the places he should be instead. This leaves him free to play with his children.
Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders began working together in the 1980s at one of Europe’s largest animation companies, Cosgrove Hall Films. They pioneered new techniques in puppet making on productions such as the BAFTA-winning The Reluctant Dragon and Emmy Award-winning The Fool of the World and The Wind in the Willows.
The Altrincham venture was begun in 2013, and the team have worked on a huge range of TV series, short films, commercials and feature films. Their work includes puppets for popular TV shows such as Postman Pat, Bob the Builder, Scream Street, Pingu, Koala Brothers, Rastamouse, Strange Hill High, Raa Raa the Noisy Lion, Twirlywoos and the new Clangers. Feature film work includes Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox and Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie.
