The Making of: OUR CHRISTMAS CARD

The set was built and styled by Alessandra Kila and Philip Rusharc at their studio in Limehouse, where they first shot the main image and, afterwards, filmed all moving elements individually.
Our CGI artists, Richard and Simon joined the duo during the shoot to 3d-scan the turkey, which was re-created as a CGI element in Maya in our East London studio.
Our idea was to create a turkey which inflated like a balloon before gently deflating to represent the idea of post Christmas exhaustion. Post artist Pepe put everything together, masking, colour correcting and blending many frames manually in Photoshop and After Effects. As with all the best Christmas feasts, timing was essential and our gif was no different. Our team sat all together to fine-tune all elements – hope you like it!

Below a short video of the unbreakable glass bauble.

Here a step-by-step guide on how Richard modelled and textured the turkey.

Below is one of the very first animation tests made in Maya by Kristian:

And here the final still image, click to enlarge.

Recom Farmhouse and Recom wish you again a very Merry Christmas and a successful New Year!

CREDITS:
Photography, Moving Image and Styling: Kila & Rusharc
Art Direction: Kila & Rusharc, Christoph Bolten
Project Manager: Kate Booker
Retouching, Compositing and Animation: Pepe Alram
Retouching Assistant: Riikka Eiro
CGI Director: Kristian Turner
CGI Artists: Richard Jenkinson and Simon Watts