Who made the BBC's adorable Christmas 2017 advert?
The animated dancing advert has been a hit with viewers – but how is it made, and what is the song the girl is dancing to?
The BBC's lovely 2017 Christmas advert has been a hit with viewers, with people admitting that the animated story of a dancing daughter and her busy Dad reduced them to tears.
The animation short film shows a girl practising for her school Christmas talent show, while her father is seemingly occupied at work.
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However, on the night of the dance the girl freezes on stage – only for her Dad to join in and help her through the routine from the back of the room.
The advert is called 'The Supporting Act', and will be shown between programmes throughout the Christmas period.
Watch the advert here, and find out more about how it was made below.
How was the BBC's Christmas advert made?
The new advert was made with a mixture of stop motion and CGI animation – the figures were created with traditional stop-motion models, but the facial expressions were computer generated.
Puppet makers MacKinnon & Saunders (who have worked on Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox and Tim Burton's Corpse Bride) made the figurines, while set builders Clockwork Frog providing the backdrop.
In-house BBC team BBC Creative worked with director Elliot Dear from production company Blinkink – Dear previously worked on the 2014 John Lewis Christmas advert.
Watch a behind the scenes video during filming of the advert with Radio 1's Chris Stark here.
"The story is about an emotional connection between a girl and her dad," Dear says. "We wanted to make a film that had the charming, handmade qualities of stop-motion animation, the tiny imperfections that let you know it's been done for real.
"The aim was to combine this with CG animation - which we used for the faces - in order to capture the tiny nuances of human facial expressions, enabling the characters to be very emotive without the use of dialogue."
What is the music used in the BBC Christmas advert?
The song the girl dances to is Symphony by Clean Bandit featuring Zara Larsson. The version has been remixed to match the action in the advert by producer Steve Mac.
Listen to the song in full below.
