Meanwhile team up with Blinkink for Chester Zoo and Sony Music spectacle.

Chester Zoo and Sony Music/RGL are building anticipation for their brand-new winter Lanterns and Light trail with an enchanting campaign by Meanwhile, who have collaborated with Blinkink director Isabel Garrett to create a stunning film for its launch.

Meanwhile worked with director Isabel Garrett and BlinkInk.

The film uses a mix of techniques, with live-action, handcrafted miniature sets mixed with 2D animated characters, and depicts the magic and awe that the attraction promises visitors. Meanwhile also worked with Jacob Wheeler to create a suitably magical soundtrack for the work, which was handled through Major Tom.

The mixed-media world will be used across all aspects of the far-reaching campaign.

Head of Marketing at Chester Zoo, Helen Dean said;

“Our new Lanterns and Light night-time event will transform the zoo into a spectacular festive light trail like no other. So, we needed a campaign that would be as creative, distinct, and as unique as the event itself.

“We rely on visitors to fund our vital conservation work, so by engaging people with this kind of next level creativity, we can hopefully change consumer behaviour in our favour too.”

The craft behind the project was an intense 4-week process.

Collaboration between Meanwhile’s founders and Blinkink is longstanding, dating from the multi-awarded 2018 World Cup ‘Tapestry’ for the BBC, through to last year’s BAFTA-nominated Winter Olympics film, also for the broadcaster. And it’s a relationship that is very important to Meanwhile founder, Tim Jones; “To match the ambition of the zoo and get it the attention it deserves, we’re always looking to represent it in fresh and surprising ways, and in our minds Blinkink, and in this instance, Isabel, were the dream collaborators.”

Credits

Client: Chester Zoo and Sony Music/RGL

Creative Agency: Meanwhile

Production Company: Blinkink

Director: Isabel Garrett

Producer: Jack Pollington

Exec Producer: Bart Yates

Head of Production: Alex Halley

Concept artist and character designer: Rafalia Raikova

2D animator: Jac Clinch

2D animator: Hozen Britto

Clean-up animator: Will Owoye

Clean-up animator: Ruben Berkeley O’Reilly

Compositor: Simone Ghilardotti

Compositor: Maria Tedemalm

Music, Sound Design and Mix: Jacob Wheeler @ Major Tom

Production Designer: Brin Frost

Model Maker: Kat Simpson

Model Maker: Emma Niemis

Director of Photography: Daniel Morgan

Gaffer: Charlie Jenkins

Animator and storyboard artist: Ewa Luczkow

Art assistant: Lamide Olusegun

Edit assistant: Isabel Gomez

Shot at: Studio Linguini

BTS filmmaker: Joe Eckworth

Runner: Zach Mercier