How Blinkink Put an End to Patronising Ideas about the Paralympics
These days, Paralympians are doing anything but playing games. Regardless of any previously misconceived notion that the Paralympics are a friendly gathering of injured war veterans, the truth is that the tournament has evolved into the world’s third-largest sporting event, captivating billions of spectators.
This is why this year, for the Paralympics campaign, The International Paralympics Committee (TIPC) wanted to show us what the reality is. Directed and animated by Blinkink’s Sam Gainsborough, the film opens in a magical world where Paralympians play their respective sports together in a world of childlike wonder. The flowers sing, the sky is purple and pink, and everybody has a role to play in this magical sporting event.
That is, until an abrupt tonal shift in the film which takes us out of the imagined animated world and into the real-life Paralympics, to show us the incredible athleticism and edge-of-your-seat competition that takes place during the event.
Here, Sam talks us through the making of the intricate animation, the archival footage that went into creating the real-life component of the film and explains why this campaign was an important move for TIPC.
LBB> Sam, what was the brief for this project and how did it start for you? Why were you the perfect person to direct this?
Sam> The brief for this project was to create a ludicrous, happy, loving, fairytale animated reality, and create a startling tonal shift half way through the piece. I was really excited to construct a 2D world (something which is not what I normally get to do) and I was really excited to go over the top. I love exaggeration in 2D animation, and that's what led me to take inspiration from French animator Sylvain Chomet. I wanted to really push the design, and the humour to create something really unexpected for a Paralympics commercial.
LBB> Why do you think that a mix of animation and live action was the way to go forward for the project and more importantly, do you think it helped to deliver the project's main message?
Sam> Of course, we wanted to play with some people’s preconceptions that the Paralympics aren’t as competitive, brutal or cut-throat as the Olympic Games. It made complete sense to create a ludicrous animated world to poke fun at this idea, to ultimately contrast the real truth of the Paralympic Games.
LBB> What were your inspirations behind the animation and what style were you aiming for?
Sam> As I mentioned above, Sylvain Chomet, the iconic French animation filmmaker. His work was the visual starting point for the project. I’ve always been a huge fan of his character design, exaggeration and beautiful animation. It made complete sense to start here for this project as we were of course creating a fantastical version of Paris. Working with a brilliant team of character designers, I hope we created a unique style for this film.
LBB> What went into creating the 'perfect' animated world? What are some details we might have missed?
Sam> Good question! We tried to cram in as much fun detail as possible, we worked with incredible background painters. I love the creepy fairytale trees holding sports equipment. Did you notice the hot air balloons are carrying podiums as well? I doubt many people noticed those!
LBB> The intricacy of the animated world of the campaign is indeed striking, especially with all of its background characters. Tell me more about them and how they came to be.
Sam> We worked with incredible character designers to create a lot of the stylised Paralympians. We wanted them to feel characterful and exaggerated – we designed lots of variations to strike the right balance.
LBB> What was the process like of animating the athletes? Did you use real-life references?
Sam> We didn’t use live action reference, as I wanted all the movements to be larger than life and very over the top, and real-life references could have possibly tempered that.
LBB> After the tonal shift, the film switched to being live-action – is the footage we see archival? How did you collect it and what went into directing that part?
Sam> Yes we had access to a wonderful archive of fantastic footage. Our editors sifted through the archive to find the most impactful moments to create our live action montage. We also filmed with the incredible athlete Amy Truesdale – for the moment when we are kicked into reality. It was a really fun shoot – she was brilliant in front of the camera.
LBB> What role did music and sound play in the creation of the film?
Sam> We always intended to use the Paul McCartney song – and it was amazing that we were able to! It was really important in shaping the structure of the whole film. As you can see it completely sets the rhythm for the animated world. The sound design also really allowed us to emphasise the grit in the second half of the film.
LBB> What was the most challenging part of creating the project? And the most fun? Is there a lesson you took away from it that you will carry forward?
Sam> It was an ambitious project in terms of the amount we wanted to achieve. The whole team did an incredible job. I’m not sure if there is one particular lesson I will carry forward, but I certainly learned a lot about the medium of 2D animation, which I haven’t dabbled in too much before.
