British waxed apparel brand Barbour has once again collaborated with Aardman Studios for a Christmas campaign starring the much-loved children’s character, Shaun the Sheep.
The hilarious 70-second stop-motion animation features a farmer’s dog attempting to herd a flock of sheep to form a Christmas choir. The sheep, however, are far too cold to sing. The dog, wrapped up in a Barbour scarf, has an idea, racing to the shop and promptly delivering a slew of Barbour gear for the sheep to rug up in.
Now much warmer, the sheep sing in unison along to a Christmas carol. The spot ends with the line: “Give the gift of warmth with Baabour”.
Starting with the storyboards and the animatic, the schedule board is the heart of the production, and it plans everything from body language, posture, and even the look of the eyes. The animators then translate those human traits and movements into the festive Shaun the Sheep stars you see in the film.
To add some Baa-bour magic, the Model Maker & Puppet Builders used printed Barbour fabric and samples as a reference, combined with metal wire loops to allow the animation to occur.
“I think there’s a real parallel between the craft that we like to imbue in our work at Aardman and the craftmanship of Barbour clothes,” said the campaign director, Steve Harding-Hill.
Barbour also used Shaun the Sheep in its Christmas campaign last year.
As part of the campaign, Barbour has also created 30 limited-edition”‘Re-loved” Shaun the Sheep-inspired wax jackets, with all proceeds going to Oxfam.
