Lidl commercials by Restless

I was Lead Animator for Restless on our 2nd Lidl commercial due to run throughout 2021. This time round it’s disco time as a world of Lidl foods hit the dance floor!

I animated the second half of the commercial (everything after the banana) & Tobias Fouracre animated the first half. Plus some guest animation from Dan Gill on the orange & strawberry jam. Robin ‘the Rigger’ Jackson was lead rigger, along with Ben Cote, helping us control every dancing fruit!

My test animation of a spinning banana which was a lot trickier than expected! Bananas have a habit of falling apart & I got through at least 6 whilst animating this! The final shot was animated by Tobias Fouracre. He actually shot the banana’s last pose in reverse because we feared the banana would slowly turn brown whilst in it’s final position!

The concept was fun, but it was surprisingly difficult trying to simulate a twerking bum. A peach may look somewhat similar to a human bottom, but it can’t do all the movement of two flexing buttocks! This took a couple of goes to get right (& of course a lot of research)! I then had to demonstrate to our clients how the peach would move. I turned around to find them all filming me!

Creative Agency – Karmarama
Creative team – Matt Butterfield & Ben Mills
Executive Creative Director – Nik Studzinski
Creative Director – Luke Ramm & Joe Holt
Agency TV Producer – Jenny O’Connell
Account Director – Jess Harding
Account manager – Kya Boon-Cohen
Production Company – Kream
Creative Partner – Jon Harvey
Producer – Jeannine Mansell
Director – Restless
DOP – Matthew Day
Animation – Tim Allen, Tobias Fouracre & Dan Gill
Rigging – Robin Jackson & Ben Cote
Studio – Clapham Road Studios
Sound Design – 750
Post Production – Coffee & TV

I was also Lead Animator for Restless on our 1st Lidl commercial that ran throughout 2020 on TV & cinemas – because they’re always Lidl on price! 😉

I animated everything except for ‘Tomato Mountain’, plus the Weetabix & nappies all by Tobias Fouracre. The end shot I co-animated with Steve Warne.

Client: Lidl
Director: Restless (Richard Acton & Chris Tan)
Production Company: Kream
Agency: Karmarama
Lead Animator: Tim Allen
Animators: Tobias Fouracre & Steve Warne
DOP – Matthew Day
Rigger: Robin Jackson

Restless website:
https://wearerestless.com/
Instagram: @restless.studios
Instagram: @richardacton_

2 Animators, 2 Sets, 6 Days & a loads of food to be animated! See behind the scenes as we brought the shelves of Lidl to life!

#TimAllenAnimation #StopMotion #Animation #Animator

The white tape on the floor helps me keep track of the line each object needs to move along to stay in focus

Lots of overhead rigs from Robin the Rigger to ensure the rigs were clear of each object's shadow

A brief moment's down time in between shots!

This test was last minute & I bought a good dozen similar looking bananas to make sure I didn't run out!

Robin's rig, stabbed into the back of the peach with several pins. Thankfully it's skin was firm enough to stay gripped onto the rig & not get squishy

Making the banana's 'arms' bend upwards it did not want to do! I could thread wire into it's skin to hold the position but this proved very fragile

We had different scale tin cans made to simulate the tin shrinking to the size of a bean

The chicken in it's dish was heavy & held up by steel rods dressed as strings

Animating the potatoes was a very greasy job!

Tobias took on the huge task of animating the erupting tomato mountain!

Tobias drops his strawberry in preparation for tomato mountain

Robin the rigger made many beautiful custom made rigs to hold different foods

A lot of rigging to control each item dancing & it all needs a final check before we start

I planned out each frame of the nappy sliding into shot & they were individually cut to size

Tim & Steve have a lot of dancing food to bring our grande finale to life!