null - Lynx & Birds

In a timely story about love triumphing over fear, we created a short festive animation that would rival any Christmas advert in the cuteness stakes!

Check out the making-of here: vimeo.com/247821107

Now in its 6th year, our company-wide shorts programme encourages experimentation in the studio and a culture of creative collaboration. Everyone in the studio has the opportunity to pitch their idea, and everyone votes for their favourite, making it unique and democratic. This year Simone Giampaolo & Francesco Mazza won the vote and steered the studio together to make this short.

We hope you enjoy it & wish you a very happy Christmas from all at Blue Zoo :)

Production Company: Blue Zoo Animation Studio

Directed by: Francesco Mazza & Simone Giampaolo

Art Direction & Design: Francesco Mazza

Animation Direction: Simone Giampaolo

Music: Brollyman

Narration: Darren Altman

Lead Modeller: Pietro Licini

CG Supervisor: Gherardo Zurla

Modelling & Texturing: Pietro Licini, Mélanie Gras, Hannah Wong

Head of Look Dev: Negar Bagheri

Grooming & Look Dev: Arthur Tibbett, Hannah Wong

Rigging, simulation and FX: Anthony Delliste

Lead Animator: Simone Giampaolo

Animators: Jim Sweeting, Owen Fern, Zoé Risser

Lighting TDs: Hannah Wong, Gherardo Zurla, Steven White

Compositing: Hannah Wong, Elaine Thomas, Negar Bagheri, Gherardo Zurla

Additional Art: Izzy Burton

Pipeline Team: Jay Tsang, Phil Stewart

Producer: Tom Box

Production Managers: Lizzie Hicks, Negar Bagheri

Voice Effects: Alec Smith

Sound Design & Mix: John Sutherland

VO Sound Engineer: Dom Boucher @ The Sound Company

Special Thanks:

Brollyman and Matthew Slater, Adam Shaw, Damian Hook, Joe Kinch, Dane Winn, Sophie Rekasowski, Carole Baskin, Catherine Gallo, Jacques Gauthier, Fabrizia Spera, Alessandra Battaglia and all our families.

To help protect endangered big cats, please make sure to support:

Felidae Conservation Fun (felidaefund.org/)

Big Cat Rescue (bigcatrescue.org/)