Sky has worked with Framestore on its new Christmas ad, That’s Christmas Sorted.
Framestore combined detailed environment design and CG with VFX to preserve the timing, movement and character of the live-action performances.
The company integrated AI tools into the production pipeline to create a hybrid AI/VFX approach to support previsualisation and environment development through to animation, matte painting and compositing.
Working from the director’s storyboards, Framestore combined traditional previsualisation techniques with AI tools to explore camera moves, performance, shot timing and lensing.
The company developed concepts for a series of interior and exterior warehouse environments, building 3D layouts to establish the dimensions and spatial relationships. The concepts provided the foundation for matchmoving and integrating details, including costume racks and props. They then developed the environments further using digital matte painting and AI tools to add detail, textures, and lighting.
To create the impression of self-animating costumes, Framestore developed a character removal pipeline combining traditional compositing with AI technology. The team also created bespoke CG keyframe animation for specific costumes, giving their movement a distinct character suited to the narrative and content IP.
“A campaign of this scale pushed us to explore new ways of working – we integrated AI into our existing VFX pipeline in a way that gave us new creative possibilities without compromising the craft and control the work demands. We developed a more flexible approach to solving complex shots – one that builds on our artists’ extensive skills and opens up new ways of working,” said Kamen Markov, Framestore creative director and VFX supervisor.
