A grandfather has been saving a very special story to tell his granddaughters about old Mr. Beaver and his Yule Log.
For this film, agency Sid Lee decided to take client IGA’s traditional holiday short to a new place, a land where stories live as children see them in their heads.
Director Kun Chang helped craft a cast of plush children’s toys, favourite companions brought to life by imagination and rendered with lovingly crafted and touch-worn textures by co-director Fabien Fulchiron.
This is the second year that Tonic DNA has collaborated on the IGA holiday film, and we wanted to push the 3D animation quality to new levels, as well as create a new visual style for the story world inspired by stop-motion animation.
The story follows Mr. Beaver, who changes from being a grumpy old recluse to someone who learns to share and make new friends, when he decides to teach some rascals who try to steal his Yule Log how to make their own.
“Once we conceived of the story world as happening in the children’s minds and therefore saw the animals as being plush toys instead of real animals, a lot fell into place,” says director Kun Chang. “These characters are more like children themselves, stealing because they are mischievous not because they are bad. It made the dynamic more sympathetic.”
The character textures include a wide range of materials from fabric to fur, and it was important for them all to have a worn-in quality that communicates life.
If you look closely at the environment designs, there are many details that reveal rich backstories. “We asked ourselves why does the grandfather tell this particular story to his grandchildren? We imagined a well-traveled guy who lives far away from his granddaughters and rarely sees them and but knows that they are at the age of disagreeing a lot - Maybe he tells a story that will help them cooperate and share." Details include drawing done by the actual children of the crew.
Every element of Mr. Beaver's dam was designed to be made out of wood, glass and other natural materials, so that modern man-made materials were nowhere to be seen. Except for the same translucent plastic for his glasses that we used on the girl`s glasses, to showcase how they have an impact on the tale being told and to connect them.
We used a lot of roots and wood weaving to merge the sections and to give everything a more winding and somewhat natural look compared to the real life kitchen.
In the fable world we used some lenses to force the depth of field and enhanced that in comp to create a softness on the edges of the frame and more sharpness on the animals. Our goal was to have the same live shooting feeling we generally have in stop motion video, where the set and the characters are small, but the lights, cameras, and materials used are actual size.
We also played with lighting to show the passage of time and changing mood, starting with a cold, dark, and windy environment to end on a warmer inviting and festive atmosphere.
To push the contrast between the real world and the world of the fable, we changed the fable world animation style closer to stop-motion, with varied frame rates throughout these scenes.
Along with the launch of the film, IGA released a very special yule log in stores, as well as shopping bags based on the animal characters. The campaign was a hit and got lots of attention in the press!
