Behind the scenes · 2009
Lewis Hamilton, in miniature.
Months after Warrior’s Dance, Academy Films called again. This time it was a Santander TV advert starring Lewis Hamilton, a Scalextric track, and a car that wouldn’t stay on it.
Watch it
Santander, with Lewis Hamilton.
A Scalextric box on a living-room floor, a miniature Lewis Hamilton, and a track built right across the room.
The story
Called in to keep it on track.
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01
The call back
Our first job with Academy Films, The Prodigy’s Warrior’s Dance, had gone well. So when they hit a problem on their next big shoot, they called the two students from Stoke.
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02
The problem
The advert needed a Scalextric car racing round the track at speed, but the car wouldn’t stay on the track at the speed they wanted to drive it.
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03
The fix: stop motion
We were invited down to London to work on set and animated the car around the track, frame by frame, so it could go exactly where it was needed, as fast as it was needed.
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04
Half a day. Huge kudos.
It was probably about half a day’s work in total. But for two university students, it meant a huge amount of exposure for our work, and following a Prodigy music video with a national Santander campaign was quite something.
A behind-the-scenes secret
Daniel’s first interview.
On the day, we were two students in slight disbelief at being on set for such a big, professional advert. Then the person filming the making-of came over and asked if one of us would talk about our part in the production.
Neither of us had ever spoken on camera. Daniel was the one pushed forward, and did his best to find the words.
17 years on, the video is still online. Jump to around three minutes in to see a 20-year-old Daniel’s first ever interview.
Two big breaks in one year. Then we built a studio.
Read how the rest of the story unfolded, or go back to where it all started with The Prodigy.