A promotional video commissioned in May 2022 by Cultureshock Media for Sotheby’s who were staging an enormous auction of natural history books. These included sumptuously illustrated classics on ornithology and botany, mammalogy and entomology, by authors including John James Audubon, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, John Gould and John Abbot.
The open brief was to identify, edit and animate as many of the images as possible for a 1-minute video to drum up interest in the sale. This was a glorious chance to pore through a vast archive of stunning, intricate illustrations (see a selection below) bringing them to life with twitches, squawks and flutters before placing them in a panoramic shot set inside one the books from the collection. It was also an opportunity to bring in the 3D skills of local renaissance man Sigh Jones who helped stitch it all together. Copious sound effects and the enjoyable chaos of Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals added to the fun and the final sale was a great success as the numerous lots sold for a combined total of several million English Pounds. Sadly our budget didn’t quite reflect those dizzy heights, but a hugely enjoyable project all the same…
For more about the sale, click here…
