Explore the Highlights of Vienna with This Mayfly Enjoying Her Single Day of Life in Unique Film

Blinkink director Sam Gainsborough is back with a deadly, mixed media tour of Vienna.

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Vienna Central Cemetery, Sam and Blinkink teamed up with the Vienna Tourist Board and Jung Von Matt to produce an original short film focused around the city’s relationship with death and of course all of its highlights too.

The film follows a mayfly enjoying her single day of life in Vienna, escaping death as she experiences the city’s art, culture, cuisine, crypts and wine taverns. The spot takes place all in just 24 hours- doing more than most flies do in their very long lives.

The film was shot by the incredible Joe Gainsborough, and on the shoot we had a little stand-in mayfly model to capture reference for the light, for the CG team.  When designing the mayfly, Sam wanted it to be quite distinctive in style, and a bit strange! We took inspiration from wax sculptures to find the slightly translucent and bizarre texture for the mayfly. The incredible CG team at Saurus worked with us to bring the creature to life.

Here's what Sam had to say about the process, "I hope you can see from the finished film, how much fun it was to make! It was incredible seeing all the amazing places Vienna has to offer, all the while thinking about how to tell this funny little story of the Mayfly. We had an incredible time in Vienna, visiting the key locations and coming up with little silly ideas to feed into the film. It was fun to think what life would look like for a creature that only lives a day, cramming in everything the world has to offer in such a short space of time. Cakes, spritz, schnitzel, Klimt, the orchestra - it was so much fun cramming all of the Viennese delights into a relentlessly speedy little story.”