WWF Amazingly Animates Ice In Impactful Stop-Motion Film On Arctic Problem
Video screenshot via WWF Arctic Program
In a moving metaphor of the planet’s melting ice caps, a young polar bear navigates the frozen Arctic sea as it quickly disappears.
This heartbreaking stop-motion film, commissioned by the WWF Arctic Program, draws from the natural melting properties of ice to convey the critical predicament of the Arctic.
London animation studio NOMINT saw the process through, from the 3D-printing to sculpting of models and animation, alongside motion designers Marcos Savignano and Jua Braga.
“Once Arctic ice melts, we can’t get it back,” the video’s narrator forewarns. “We can’t negotiate the melting point of ice.”
Since what’s hurting the climate isn’t always clear to people who aren’t activists, nonprofits have been turning to inventive means to illustrate those problems. The United Nations, for one, enlisted a dinosaur to warn humans about their impending extinction should they so choose to continue their ways. Like WWF’s video, the UN campaign was also launched to coincide with the COP26 summit in Glasgow, where world leaders gathered to brainstorm solutions for the planet.
On screen, you see just one polar bear, but it’s really a combination of 500 sculptures created of the character. More than 1,000 liters (264 gallons) of ice were used to bring this 46-second animation to life.
By the time the video was complete, the team had spent a full year working on the project.
Video screenshot via WWF Arctic Program
Stop motion, as you might know, is time-consuming and challenging as it is, which is why the technique continues to fascinate despite having been around for a while. Throw in the impossible material of ice and it’s a recipe for literal meltdowns.
NOMINT’s CEO Yannis Konstantinidis goes so far as to call the film “the most difficult project I have ever worked on.”
“Fittingly, once ice starts melting you have no control over it, making it almost impossible to create a stop-motion film of this scale (which of course requires time between each shot),” Konstantinidis explains.
The process, he says, was “especially hard emotionally,” but for every ruined shot caused by the volatile material, the crew was reminded of the crisis in the real Arctic “and how easy it is to underestimate it.”
[via WWF Arctic Program]
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