W+K, Nokia Set New Stop-Motion Animation Record

By Kiran Aditham 

Nearly a year after setting a Guinness World Record for “Smallest stop-motion animated character” in their film about Dot, W+K London, Nokia and Aardman Animation have flipped the script completely to receive another nod from the Guinness gang for a new short called “Gulp,” which earned a World Record for “World’s largest stop-motion animation set.”

The ambitious effort, which was continually documented on W+K’s blog and once again shot entirely on the Nokia N8 smartphone (this time on a beach in South Wales, UK), reminds one of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Along with W+K and Aardman directors Will Studd and Ed Patterson, aka Sumo Science, “Gulp” also features the talents of a horde of sand artists, art students and prop makers who helped build the huge set.

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Aardman’s Heather Wright, who served as EP on the project, says, “Gulp is crazily ambitious.  We’ve never done anything even approaching this enormous scale before and it’s a massive technical, logistical and artistic learning curve. We’re working right at the edge of what’s possible in all areas.” To see what actually went into this battle between man and sea monster, check out a making-of clip after the jump.

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