simon looks good on radio

Simon was interviewed last night on BBC Radio 4's 'Front Row'.  He talked about his famous cat, the new RSPCA film - and the comedy merits of, erm, 'bodily function' sound effects...  If you missed it, go to www.bbc.co.uk/frontrow, find Listen to Previous Editions and select Thursday (this service will be available until 18th Dec).

rspca film

A new Simon Tofield film, in support of the RSPCA's campaign to tackle pet obesity, will go live on www.youtube.com/simonscat next Tuesday, 9th December.  Watch that space!

rspca tees

500 limited edition Simon's Cat t-shirts are on sale at www.simonscat.com, with proceeds going to the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).  

gosh spot

Helene Friren has directed a 60-second commercial for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children.  A combination of live action testimonials from patients and their parents, and animated imagery designed by Helene, the commercial aims to invite donations of £3 per month to help fund research, equipment and beds for parents.  See the commercial at the GOSH website here.

suzie joins tandem

Just back from Amsterdam where we spent some time with our latest director signing, Suzie Templeton.  Suzie won the Oscar this year for her stop-frame adaptation of Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf' and she's now keen to develop her work in the context of commercial production. Here's a link to this week's news coverage in shots magazine.

birthday bear

Paddington Bear's latest encounter with Marmite sandwiches is now showing on UK television. Crafted at TANDEM, the production team was careful to use the same techniques employed in the original 1970s television series. This has resulted in an authentic nod towards a much younger Paddington Bear, who this year has hit 50 years old. Above you can see part of the painstaking work that was put into the TV commercial, with every single character being cut out by hand multiple times.

To see Marmite 'Birthday' click here.

design by daniels

Dave has just posted a microsite to contain his non-animated work, including design material that led to his animated productions for Honda, Led Zeppelin and NatWest.  Click here for inspiration.

the cat comes back

Big news! The third (and much-anticipated) episode of Simon's Cat hit YouTube last night. The internet release was timed to follow the UK television premiere on BBC2's Culture Show.

For anyone who missed The Culture Show, Simon's Cat 'TV Dinner' will be shown again during tomorrow's edition of The Culture Show Uncut (Thursday 17th July at 11.20pm! on BBC2). The screening will be accompanied by an interview with the director himself; TANDEM's very own Simon Tofield.

learn about learn direct

The Learn Direct team have posted this up to YouTube. It's a 'making-of' video showing TANDEM at work on the recently completed TV commercials.

cannes do

Greetings from Cannes, at the Lions Advertising Festival!
As a yearly tradition, Mike, Lynn, Dave and me went to wave the TANDEM flag during this holi.... erm, work excursion. As usual our days were filled with hard work at several parties on the beach and in the hills.
But this time, we felt like giving as well ... so bring forward TANDEM's mini-party at the Miramar beach. It was a popular and relaxed affair with a strictly 'no business card' policy. The only networking that happened was agency and production company mutually agreeing on the quality of the rosé wine, whilst discovering that the sea wasn't only to stare at.
So if you want to dip in the water with us next year, pre-book your tickets now! ;)

cultured

TANDEM got a mention on BBC2's Culture Show (Episode 2 last week). Ignacio Ferreras' short film 'How to Cope With Death' was shown as part of their new Friday animation spot. The folks at The Culture Show intend to programme more animation short films over the coming weeks, good for them!

dave direct

Dave Daniels has just completed three 30-second commercials for Learn Direct through Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R.  Taking their cue from the clarity of the campaign's message offering professional skills training, the commercials mix stop-frame and graphics techniques with a clean, uncluttered look and a gently comical lightness of touch.  The commercials were animated by resident stop-frame maestro Tobias Fouracre.  Click here to view 'Des', 'Jane' and 'Paul'.

strings attached

Following his work on Paddington for Marmite, TANDEM director Tobias Fouracre has brought another childhood TV favourite back to life for a major campaign, this time featuring the Thunderbirds in the latest spot for Specsavers.  

The commercial sees marionette hero Virgil Tracy being chased by The Evil Hood through perilous mountain peaks - but only one of them is equipped with Specsavers Reaction lenses.  

The commercial was shot using techniques exactly as per the Gerry Anderson 1960s production - including an in-camera explosion on-set - and we even got to work with one of the puppeteers from the original series.  F.A.B., as they say.  

Click here to view Specsavers 'Thunderbirds'.

petrol heads

Tobias Fouracre has just shot this ten second stop motion spot to promote the Guardian newspaper's Formula One racing guide for agency Wieden+Kennedy.

Representing the four British drivers in competition for the F1 title, the patriotic crash helmets treat us to a high-octane rendition of our national anthem.

Click here to see Guardian 'Helmets'.

and the winners are...

Great to see two TANDEM directors pick-up their British Animation Awards (BAAs) at last night's ceremony. Simon Tofield won 'Best Comedy' for Simon's Cat 'Cat Man Do', and Jon Dunleavy's film 'The Technical Hitch' won 'Best Character Voice Performance' for Robert Lindsay's narration.


Simon Tofield, the cat that got the cream.


Jon Dunleavy with TV funnyman Joe Pasquale.

simon's famous cat

We've just launched our new YouTube channel to feature the ongoing series of 'Simon's Cat' films from Simon Tofield.  The first film, 'Cat Man Do' (aka 'Wake Up Cat'), has now had approximately 5m downloads on only two of  the many postings, not to mention the dozens of other links all over the web, so it felt right to give the second film, 'Let Me In!', a proper home. Here's where to view, subscribe and comment: www.youtube.com/simonscat Could the second film be even funnier than the first?  Discuss!

congratulations suzie!

A massive congratulations from all at TANDEM to our friend Suzie Templeton, on her Oscar win for the beautiful 30-minute film 'Peter and the Wolf' in the Animated Short category.        

sweet

Tobias has just completed a stop-frame animated film for the landing page of the Tate & Lyle website, telling the story of the brand's Fairtrade sugar production using a mix of cut-out drawings and models. 

Here's a link to the site: http://www.tasteandsmile-fairtrade.co.uk

tokyo niff

Best wishes to our friend and Japanese agent Hide Ishibashi, as he launches the first ever Northern Ireland Film Festival in Japan. Dave Daniels and Jules Maxwell contributed a 'remixed' version of our film Colour Keys as the opening to each of the screenings. Visit www.niff.jp for details.

calpol

TANDEM director Jeroen Jaspaert has completed a new spot for Calpol. It demonstrates yet another side of Mr Jaspaert's diverse talents, with a richly rendered 'storybook' feel to convey the gentle reassurance associated with the brand. Also, speaking personally as a parent of young children, this is an example of our studio advertising a product I truly endorse! ;) Click here to view Calpol 'Dreams'.

that cat again

Simon Tofield's short film 'Cat Man Do' has been nominated in the 'Best Comedy' category at the upcoming British Animation Awards. Congratulations, Simon - again!! If you've somehow managed to avoid the 7 million downloads (and counting!) on YouTube, as well as the dozens of other links created over the last couple of months, take a look here!!

never felt better

A very Happy New Year to all and first, an apology - it's been an extremely busy period and therefore thin on the postings! TANDEM has completed several new commercial productions in the run up to Christmas and through January, including work for Calpol, Carphone Warehouse, Yoplait, Payback and a new brand campaign for Anchor butter which was directed by Daniel Greaves and Tobias Fouracre. All five commerials in the Anchor campaign were created in fuzzy felt, reflecting the brand's hands-on credentials (an additional apology for another bad pun in this posting's title).