Pink Pepper Gin springs out of lockdown with Wes Anderson inspired stop motion animation
Skwigly
Cognac-based distillery Audemus Spirits is emerging from lockdown with The Home of Pink Pepper Gin, a Wes Anderson-inspired minute-long animation.
Audemus approached London based Sentio Space to produce the film, a studio that has made a name for itself in recent years by creating short animated chapters for galleries including Tate Modern and Tate Britain, The Royal Academy and The National Gallery. George Warren directed the piece, an up and coming director and DOP whose graduation film at Kingston University, Uki, was funded by the BFI and aired on the BBC.
Production began in January with lockdown arriving mid-way-through and presenting its own challenges. As soon as restrictions were lifted, a reduced team completed the stop-motion section of the animation at Clapham Road Studios.
The film’s bold and diverse atmosphere is brought about through bringing into harmony multiple mediums in an approach reminiscent of the process behind Space Jam and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. A hand-built miniature house shot frame by frame sits as the backdrop for six characters who were created using digital paintbrushes. On top of that, there are elements shot live action, including the liquid inside the stills. It means there are three mediums in one film, a rare feat befitting of Pink Pepper Gin’s distinctive and dynamic flavour.
Miko (Abouaf, Audemus Spirits founder) and I had seen and loved the work of the team at Sentio Space, and contacted them with the idea of bringing the Audemus world to life. We wanted to be able to educate consumers and our trade partners alike by explaining the ingredients & craft behind our flagship product, Pink Pepper Gin, by creating an original & unique short film. Oliver and Benjy joined us in France to absorb as much background information as they could and there’s an element of that trip in the finished film – the bubbling effect in each still is taken from Olivers’ video footage of the actual stills filmed at the distillery here in Cognac! When George Warren came on board the project really started to take off, and we’re incredibly lucky to have worked with someone who is as passionate and creative as he is, and we are extremely proud and delighted with the results.
-Ian Spink (Co-founder, Pink Pepper)
Pink Pepper Gin is playing a leading role in the gin resurgence of the last decade, an old craft that is being injected with modern energy. The film blends together stop motion animation, an ancient technique, with digital animated characters and live action footage, giving it a modern and innovative twist. Together, they make a great pairing.
-Oliver Trace (Founder and Creative Director, Sentio Space)
Overall I’m really excited to share this project! It was really refreshing working with Ian and Miko, who are both extremely passionate about Pink Pepper Gin and about the craft behind animation and distilling. They were very open to the idea of creating something a little unique, which involved mixing stop motion animation, live action film and digital 2D animation into one stand-alone film. Which is a style that has rarely been seen before and one that I think matches their brand philosophy perfectly. Special thanks to Sentio Space and to everyone involved in the making of the film.
-George Warren, Director