Sentio Space commissioned by the National Gallery to create series of short animations on Leonardo
Skwigly
The National Gallery has commissioned London based animation studio Sentio Space to create a series of short animations on Leonardo for its immersive exhibition, Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece.
The animations are designed as short chapters suitable for the demands of an online audience. Each chapter looks at different themes featured in the National Gallery’s exhibition, Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece, which runs until 19 January 2020 and focuses on just one of his works – The Virgin of the Rocks. The animated chapters introduce the National Gallery’s growing global online audience to Leonardo’s painting, The Virgin of the Rocks, sets Leonardo in the historical context of the Renaissance, and sheds light on technical aspects of his work, such as the use of ‘Sfumato’ and ‘Chiaroscoro’.
There is a growing trend towards galleries commissioning animations to engage audiences on social media. The National Gallery is the third gallery Sentio Space has created animated chapters for this year, having also worked with Tate Modern on its ‘CC Land Exhibition: Pierre Bonnard’ and the National Portrait Gallery’s ‘Pre-Raphaelite Sisters’.
Sentio Space’s work with artist Holly Warburton for Tate Modern’s CC Land Exhibition: Pierre Bonnard broke the Tate’s record on Instagram for likes, views and engagement. Sentio Space is a London based animation studio that specialises in creating short animated chapters designed for an online audience. It is renowned for blending traditional with digital techniques, working with leading British institutions including Cambridge University, The Tate, National Gallery, BBC, and The Old Vic Theatre.
We wanted to engage new online audiences with themes from our immersive exhibition, Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece. We were looking for a format that was optimised for social media and would resonate with a younger audience.
The four 30-second animations produced by Sentio Space have proved hugely successful in engaging online audiences with introductory topics and themes from the exhibition, including an introduction to Leonardo da Vinci; his technique; his masterpiece, The Virgin of the Rocks; and, the time in which he lived.
The animations have been an important part of a wider content plan that has both charitable and commercial objectives.
-John Shevlin, Planner at National Gallery
Our aim with this commission was to create something that grabs the imagination of an online audience, to help give Leonardo a relevance today and encourage people to attend the exhibition.
We’re interested in embedding an experience in the memory of an audience. By creating chapters with a story that is tied to the structure of the exhibition, we increase the chance of key concepts being remembered.
It was important to find a style that worked with the aesthetic of the exhibition, which was achieved primarily by limiting the colour palette.
Leonardo blurred the lines between artist, scientist and inventor: sharp lines represent the mechanical aspects of Leonardo’s work and softer textures express the organic.
Leonardo lived in Florence during the Renaissance. Although coincidental, it was fitting to work with Italian illustrator Angelica Lena, who had just spent three months in Florence. We could rely on authentic inspiration.
-Oliver Trace, Director of Sentio Space
Two chapters have been released online, with two to be released later this month on the National Gallery’s social channels.