Salamandra Reflects on Five Years with Anniversary Animations

To celebrate the company's fifth birthday, Salamandra decided to make its own series of five ridiculously festive animations. The company staggered the release of the series via social media, with the end point timed to coincide with the event.

The videos themselves were gathered in a Vimeo album where the whole set will be kept for posterity. On the day, Wednesday 19 June, Salamandra also released a compilation of all the animations on Vimeo.

All this meant there was plenty of content to share on social media, with momentum building across Instagram, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The company's news was picked up by the Animation UK website, which published a story about the growing business.

This project was a great chance for the team to be playful with 3D, 3D illusion and VR techniques; areas they are keen to do more in. Some narratives observe the environment surrounding the number five, while others focus on the five itself.

Salamandra will be sharing each animation's own backstory, so keep an eye on social media for the 'making-ofs' – replete with behind-the-scenes screen recordings. Check out the animations below.

"The plot is to signify our founder, Christine, discovering the origin story of the company," said Marcus, the animator. "Inspired by the salamanders, she decides to make a digital design agency in Windsor. She also has hairy legs, because she's been out and about in the jungle for weeks."

"I wanted to challenge myself to create something that was whimsical and fun, but also worked within the realms of what is physically possible," said Emma, the animator. "The resulting animation represents the balance of imaginative creativity and precision engineering that defines our work at Salamandra.uk… plus, it was really fun to figure out!"  

"I wanted to create a realistic but fun and cheerful animation to celebrate our fifth birthday," said Nicholas, the animator. "I imagined using everything I would associate with a celebration, such as balloons, sweet treats, presents and cakes to create the number five." 

"It's our company's fifth birthday," said Sarah, the animator and new business development and account executive. "So naturally I wanted to create a birthday party scene complete with balloons, fairy lights, presents wrapped in satin ribbon and of course cake! I wanted to create something where I could play with bright colours, but admittedly the cake looks like something Paul Hollywood would turn his nose up at!"