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Dougal talks about the John Lewis advert

The animated John Lewis advert featuring a houseful of objects moving outdoors was directed by Dougal Wilson. Watch him explain how he made it.

In the video, Dougal explains the original brief for the project and some of the decision-making process. He takes us through the detail of his sketchbooks, considering the importance of the drawings, in particular the storyboard and how this led on to the animatic.

Dougal emphasises, as other contributors have done, the difference between live action and animation in terms of precision and leaving nothing to chance. In his case, the large budget from a client whose work will be shown regularly to millions of viewers means there is little room to get anything wrong.

Dougal talks about shooting on location rather than in a studio and some of the logistical challenges that raised and also about each set of objects being given different characteristics.

What difference would it have made to shoot the advert in a studio rather than on location?

How far did you notice the different style for different objects?

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