Transpennine Is on Track for a Better Future in Route Upgrade Stop Motion Spot

Produced by PASSION Animation, Tom O’Meara directs a playful stop motion spot for the Transpennine Route Upgrade, with agency &Partnership.

The film produced by PASSION Animation, a division of PASSION PICTURES, was traditionally animated in stop-motion by director Tom O’Meara. Brought to life entirely in camera, the spot has been painstakingly animated by hand, one frame at a time. The animation is rich with playful detail, with miniature models juxtaposed with life-size props mirroring the voiceover. The train featured in the commercial is a perfect scale replica of its real word counterpart. The level of craft employed by Tom results in a rewardingly tactile film, reflecting the care and attention transforming the Transpennine Main Line.

Director Tom O’Meara says “This project gave me the chance to create some really expansive landscapes. I loved recreating the Yorkshire Dales, Pennine mountains and northern cityscapes. To get close to the trains we used a new periscope lens by Laowa. This is one of the first stop motion projects shot on the new glass.”

A division of PASSION Pictures, the multi-faceted, full-service animation studio works across features, series, commercial and gaming. With an established global reputation for premium, original content, it is home to a multi-award-winning team at the forefront of innovation and creativity with a team dedicated to developing technology that allows the company’s creative pioneers to realise their full potential. Overseen by PASSION’s Founder/Creative Director Andrew Ruhemann and CEO Nick Southgate, the studio collaborates with the most well known brands in the world such as Nike, Google, McDonalds and has won countless awards for the work including Cannes Lions, British Arrows and D&AD Pencils.