Charlie Productions : Animation

We weren't expecting to need any digital SFX on Panda. It was all going to be done in camera. Except when it came to the day we were shooting in the Mothatorium, which was a day things finally fell apart on the shoot.

Chris had been building a rig of mechanical moths to flutter about on wires, powered by 3V motors whirring away - but he hadn't got them finished, and we quickly realised that the motors were going to give off too much noise anyway. So scrap them. But at least we had the real-life moths and butterflies we had purchased from the butterfly place in Kew...

Except that we didn't get to shoot the scene on the scheduled day. Instead, another 24 hours later, we tried to revive the poor buggers with sugar water, but they basically wanted to cling for dear life onto whatever surface we put them. No-one wanted to fly.

In comes Production Designer Katie MacGregor to save the day, bringing her friend from NFTS, Rodrigo Fernandes, on board, to animate some digital moths for us. He did a cracking job, even managing to make his way through the handheld shots we'd promised would all be locked off on the tripod (sorry!), to the point where they really feel right and real, and we were saved.

Charlie Productions believe passionately in doing things and always trying to stop in time for tea.

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