"Ghost Stories" - On a Wing and a Prayer

Coldplay's "Ghost Stories."

Coldplay 'Ghost Stories' Album Animation Stream from Trunk Animation on Vimeo.
Coldplay's "Ghost Stories" - See the First Track animated. This is an ethereal ballad by Coldplay, the first track on their new album "Ghost Stories," that was set to animation by Trunk Animation. It is the band's sixth studio album. The theme of the animation was to turn the album's cover designed by Mila Furstova into a living animation that spanned the entire album of music.

Approached by Parlophone chief Sam Seager, Richard Barnett at Trunk Animation agreed to tackle the job. Trunk first had to copy the album cover by hand so that it could work at a 7K scale. Then, they converted the entire thing into digital form so that they could use software to manipulate the 2D imaged and make them 3D. Even extremely tiny features of the art could be made to move and interact with surrounding elements. That hard work enabled the company to manipulate all of the images in the complex art and make them appear to come alive. I bet Mila Furstova was blown away at this expansion of her original canvas.

A few fun facts about the project:

• It took a team of 10 animators and artists
• They used 3D, 2D cut-outs and classical 2D hand-drawn animation
• There were 50 individual sections
• Each of the 50 sections was animated
• The sections were then looped in periods ranging from 30 seconds to two minutes
• 53,000 unique frames had to be processed
• There were about 300,000 smaller pre-renders amassed over four days.

This is highly produced cutting edge stuff. The animation shop obviously did a quality job, but then, that's its business - providing animations for music videos and the like. Word is that the band was understandably quite pleased with the result, and why wouldn't they be?

There is a separate "making of" video below for those interested. It is worth watching if you are interested in the business of animation.

Detail from the album cover.

From the web site:

This is the first track of our 43 minute iTunes stream for Coldplay's 'Ghost Stories' Album launch. The full 43 minute piece was streamed on 12th May at 9pm GMT, along with the full album a week before release. 

Always in My Head is the first track of the album.
Get the album here: smarturl.it/ghoststories
Direction-
Alasdair + Jock
Production Company
Trunk Animation
Album artwork-
Mila Fürstová
Artist-
Coldplay
2D animation-
Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits
Zoe Matzko
Jeroen Jaspaert
Aaron Lampert
Valentina Delmiglio
3D animation-
Layla Atkinson
Artworking-
John Harmer
Valentina Delmiglio
Jock Mooney
Time lapse-
Mo Hague
Compositing-
Chris Sayer
Alasdair Brotherston
Line Producer-
Pedro Lino
Producer-
Richard Barnett
Label
Parlophone
Commissioner-
Sam Seager/Parlophone
Data Upload-
Chillibean

Below is a behind-the-scenes look at the company, Trunk Animation, that put the album together. This is a unique glimpse at where all this animation actually comes from and what it takes to perfect this high quality work. These high-profile projects are terrific because, as part of the process, they give you these types of looks at the staff and the setting where the hard work of animation by unsung heroes takes place.

Coldplay 'Ghost Stories' Album Stream 'Making Of' from Trunk Animation on Vimeo.
Animated music videos are all the rage these days. This shop obviously is a quality producer and we'll be seeing a lot more of their work.

From the website:

This is a film about the making of a 43 minute animation to stream alongside Coldplay's new 'Ghost Stories' album. It was the first time a full album video had been streamed on iTunes, and came out on 12th May 2014 at 9pm GMT, a week before Coldplay's 6th studio album was to be released worldwide. 

See the Animation here: vimeo.com/95954558
Get the album here: smarturl.it/ghoststories
Credits
Making Of:
Directed by Pedro Lino
Produced by Richard Barnett
Audio Mix by JM Finch @Fonic
Track: Coldplay 'Midnight'
Original Project
Direction-
Alasdair + Jock
Production Company
Trunk Animation
Album artwork-
Mila Fürstová
Artist-
Coldplay
2D animation-
Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits
Zoe Matzko
Jeroen Jaspaert
Aaron Lampert
Valentina Delmiglio
3D animation-
Layla Atkinson
Artworking-
John Harmer
Valentina Delmiglio
Jock Mooney
Time lapse-
Mo Hague
Compositing-
Chris Sayer
Alasdair Brotherston
Line Producer-
Pedro Lino
Producer-
Richard Barnett
Label
Parlophone
Commissioner-
Sam Seager/Parlophone
Data Upload-
Chillibean

2020