Blinkink director Sam Gainsborough reteams with animator Andy Biddle on this innovative spot for British retailer Co-op thru agency VCCP, printing 900 2D frames onto individual shop receipts and then animating them in stop-motion.

Sam Gainsborough: “It was fantastic getting to make a film, celebrating everything that makes the CO OP different and brilliant. It was a fun starting point to think, how would it look if we animated with receipt paper? Receipt printers use thermal paper, rather than ink – if you put a flame to it, it creates almost inky shadows and textures.

“This led me to look at lots of black and white ink animation techniques to find inspiration for the animation style. We also knew text, numbers and symbols would play a huge part in the aesthetic – so we created many tests so see how the typography could play a big part in the visual storytelling.
 

“It’s always lovely working with a new process/technique – and it was a joy to discover that receipt printers naturally create such lovely errors, textures and details.”

 
“We had a wonderful printing team, who would print and cut each frame of the film through the receipt printer, then they would shoot all the frames in stop-motion animation. It’s always lovely working with a new process/ technique – and it was a joy to discover that receipt printers naturally create such lovely errors, textures and details. The film looks very simple, but a huge amount of work went into creating it.

“We were lucky to work with an incredible team of animators – led by Reg Isaac, whose naturalistic approach gave the characters in the film real authenticity. I love the character designs which were based off initial sketches by Stephen McNally. To me, the world feels very true and real – although it all exists within the tiny, slightly glitchy print on the receipt paper.”

Watch the BTS video:
 

 
 

 
Client: Co-op
Production/Content Lead: Amy Banks
Community Campaigns & Content Manager: Roni Boys

Agency: VCCP
ECD: Jonny Parker, Chris Birch
Copywriter: James Hudson
Art Director: Jason Keet
Producer: Alessia Small

Production: Blinkink
Director: Sam Gainsborough
EP: Bart Yates, Joe Byrne
Head of Production: Alex Halley
Producer: Sarah Mavity
Production Manager: Molly Turner
Directors Assistant: Daniel Quirke
1st AD: Sandy Liddle
DOP: Ronnie McQuillan
Art Director: Gordon Allen
Art Department Assistant: Brin Frost
Stop Motion Animator: Andy Biddle
Stop Motion Rigger: Robin Jackson
VFX Supervisor: Stephen McNally
Storyboards: Joe Tottie
Character Designer: Stephen McNalley, Dan Lambert, Jacob Wolf
Concept Design: Clement Danveau
Printing Team: Daniel Quirke, Honor Price, Ross Stringer
2D Animation Lead: Reg Isaac
2D Animator: Andy McPherson, Bob Wolkers, Robert Milne, Tim Dilllnutt, Yagizhan Miditli, Irene Corral de Gaspar, Weiden Wong
2D Clean up Lead: Denise Dean, Alison Oxborrow, Angeline De Silva, Eleanor March, Gerry Galleo, Helena Bonastre, Jay Wren, Jess Leslau, Katherine Spangengberg, Natasha Pollack, Ryan Fairbanks, Simon Swales, Wayne Maslin
VFX Lead: Stephen McNally
VFX Editor: Simone Ghilardotti
VFX Producer: Sally Heath
Compositor: Luca Schenato, Luke Simpson, Rob Ward, Vik Jardine
Focus Puller: Max Halstead
2nd AC Kristiana Zhekova, Aida Garcia Veda
DIT: Ben Chaude-Woodman
Playback: Robbie Ross
Gaffer: Pearce Crowley
Spark: Paulo Fernandes
Production Runner: Promise Fayose, Hannah Morris
BTS Videographer/Editor: Joe Eckworth
BTS Videographer: Holly Butcher, George Warren

Color: Absolute
Colorist: Juliette Wileman
Grade Producer Sally Heath

Sound: 750MPH
Sound Engineer: Sam Ashwell, Lucas Trigg
Audio Producer Olivia Ray