How do you pique men’s interested in what they can do with their beards and head hair? That was the idea behind Braun’s stop-frame animation video for the launch of its new styling range.

Animation company, Aardman and BBDO’s content production studio, Flare, set about to create a montage of eye-catching shapes, patterns and designs etched into the hair on more than 50 men’s heads and faces.

Aardman created the film by combining a sequence of still images to create the illusion of movement, a job that was all about the planning.

“There is a lot of planning when it comes to creating a stop motion animation video. Stop motion doesn’t have an ‘undo’ button like CGI or 2D animation so it needs to be done right the first time,” explained Aardman director Will Studd.

All of the creative designs were aligned in a way that allowed the pattern to move effortlessly from one frame to the next, and projection guides for the animators were lined up well in advance of filming.

“What I liked most about this project was that it was a new way of approaching animation. From a design point of view, I really love that this was a graphic design project realised in stop-motion; it’s a 2D project achieved in a 3D world,” Studd added.

“There were a lot of ‘firsts’ for me with this project. It was the first time I had worked with beards as my canvas so there was a lot of research into hair density, hair tightness, and hair growth patterns. It was also the first time I had ever changed the physical appearance of my models by cutting their hair. It was much more intimate than I have ever been to any other models that I have filmed with before.”

“We had some challenges with registration – lining animation up whilst projecting the guides onto the faces and beards – as humans tends to move a fair bit more than puppets or clay! Because of this, the rigging has been really original; we have never had to rig in the way we have for this project so there’s been a lot of experimentation.”

A selection of Instagram influencers, who are known throughout the world for their enviable facial hair, were chosen to be featured in the video, including male models, Andrea Hamman, Chris John Millington and Luke Ditella.

Electronic music artist, Gramatik, provided the musical backdrop to the video with a track produced especially for Braun Beardimation.

Andreas Leibundgut, assistant brand manager for Braun male power grooming global commented, “Braun has never undertaken a partnership like this one before and we are really pleased with the final result –the video perfectly demonstrates how a man’s face is the canvas to express his style. Our hope for this campaign is that it will inspire men to be creative and experiment with their looks, and we think it will do just that.”