‘As if by magic…’ Nexus Studios’ Felix Massie recreates Mr Benn
In collaboration with The Chase Creative Consultants, Nexus Studios have brought the much loved children’s television character Mr Benn out of the 1970s and into the 21st Century in two beautifully hand-crafted adverts for The Insurance Emporium, launched at theinsuranceemporium.co.uk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV1iN1njNBM
Nexus director Felix Massie (In the Air is Christopher Gray, Rain or Shine) was tasked with recreating the heart and soul of the original Mr Benn series, taking special consideration to be as faithful to the character’s original incarnation as possible. To do so the director replicated the show’s traditional production process for the new films – including the already online Safari – starting with buying thick drawing paper, ink pens and watercolours.
Mr. Benn has a very specific wobbly line that can only really be replicated by drawing on textured paper, the same goes for his watercolour textures.
We wanted to treat Mr Benn as if he had been cryogenically frozen for 40 years and has suddenly woken up. Now when he walks down the street, kids go by on micro scooters instead of go-karts and there are kebabs strewn on the floor.
-Felix Massie
With all of the characters and environments hand-drawn by Chris Martin, an in-house team at Nexus used these designs as a basis for their digital animation that was then treated to achieve ‘the authentic Mr Benn look’, with the colouring done by scanning Chris’s watercolours and applied in post.
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- Courtesy of Nexus Studios
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- Courtesy of Nexus Studios
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- Courtesy of Nexus Studios
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- Courtesy of Nexus Studios
To achieve the full nostalgia factor the films also make use of the originals’ iconic 1970s soundtrack.
For more of the work of Nexus Studios visit nexusstudios.com