Definitely the craziest thing I’ve ever done in camera. It’s a replacement animation using 355 unique laser-cut cans. Behind the scenes + reading material here:

We wanted to show the heritage and expertise that goes into this craft beer, so we set out to combine traditional craft with modern technology. We came up with the idea to turn the beer can into a 360° projector, so legends can burst out of it – but pulling that off turned out to be a mind boggling challenge!

We started with hand animating the sequence. Then the images got translated to metal sheets by algorithms, and the result of that is laser cut and rolled into 355 unique cans, each containing one frame of the film.
We then placed an LED inside, but to have sharp enough shadows on the walls, we had to use the smallest light possible. It also had to shine in every direction, so we made this motorised system – like a small lighthouse – that sweeps the can surface. Taking a long exposure of that creates the effect.

To make it look right, we had to be really precise with our calculations. The position of the light source and the camera sensor, even the dimensions of the set play a huge part in creating the illusion.
It was a really exciting process, especially because all of the work was quite invisible until we put it all together and turned the light on. And once we started cutting the cans, there was no turning back.
Even if it’s all done for real, it’s stays quite intangible and ghostly, just like the legends it tries to evoke. When we started out, everybody told us this was impossible, and truth be told, sometimes it did feel like fighting the laws of the universe.

Agency: House 337

Creative Director: Steve Hawthorne
Art Director: Pete Ioulianou
Copy Writer: Ollie Agius
Head of Strategy: Laura Sammarco
Account Management:: Rich Williams & Kelly Mahon
Agency Producer: Henry Davies

Production Company: Blinkink
Director: Balázs Simon
Executive Producer: Bart Yates
Exectutive Producer: Josef Byrne
Head of Production: Alex Halley
Producer: Sami Goddard

Graphic Design: Tobias Hall
Storyboard Artist: Mysie Pereira
Laser Cutting: Laser Cut Works
Studio Manager: Daisy Garside
DOP: Max Halstead
Gaffer: Elliot Beach
Stop Motion Animators: Andy Biddle @andyrbiddle & Tobias Fouracre
@tobiasfouracre, Chris Ullens
Can Fabrication & Rigging: Andy Spradbery
Set Build: Mattes and Minitures, Leigh Took, Lauren Took, Richard Grant & Mitch
Barnes
Animation Lead: Reg Issac
Animators: Yagizhan Misirli & Andrew Clarke
Clean Up Supervisor: Katherine Spangenberg
Clean Up Artists: Dylan Wilson, Sameera Joshi, Kat Michaelides, Jack Zhang
Post House: GYAR
Grade: Kai Van Beers
Music: Major Tom
Sound: Dugal Macdiarmid
Shot at Clapham Road Studios