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Five & the Dragon Quest

GWR -Peter Baynton
Category
Techniques

The Famous Five are back for more thrills with GWR and adam&eve\TBWA, this time in pursuit of a dragon tearing across the South West and Wales. Peter Baynton was asked to return as director after the success of last year's campaign, applying his trademark storytelling talent to pack the latest film with charm, character, beauty and gags by the bucketload.

Five & the Dragon Quest pushes the distinctive 2D/3D animation style the GWR Famous Five collaborations have always employed to absolute artistry. Created with our friends at Melt, the camera movement, world-building and motion made possible by anchoring the film in 3D is unparalleled. The 2D animation, consisting of the matte painting, character detailing and sumptuous lighting and compositing, turns every frame into a masterpiece.

The third ink-over animation pass, implemented to more closely resemble Eileen Soper's classic illustrations of the beloved Enid Blyton books, highlights the characters' features and clothing, adding a beautiful vintage look as well as more drama in the expressions of our heroes. 

Our client and agency partners wanted to highlight the majesty and magic of the South West, and of course the speed and ease GWR with which connects users to the stunning locations across it.

To achieve this, everything needed to be extra; more breathtaking landscapes, more jokes, more tone-setting details - like the material for the wings of the dragon being swiped from Aunt Fanny's bedsheets.

Peter Baynton,
Director
We were joined by many of last year’s talented crew, as well as a bunch of brilliant artists new to the campaign. For me personally it’s a huge privilege to work with such skilled and dedicated artists who continuously surprise me with the beauty and charm of their work. I’m really proud of the films, key visuals and map we’ve made together.
Matte Painting the Glastonbury Scene
Pretty as a Picture
3D animation of the reporter
Hybrid Style
2D Ink Over Pass
Storybook Elements
Cleanup and compositing
Melding the Worlds
The Finished Shot
Voila

We were fortunate to work with many of the same crew as the 2025 campaign along with some very talented new additions, so we could quickly plug back in and build on the teamwork from only a few months before. The key nuance of this production was ensuring both the 2D and 3D teams were able to work simultaneously and cohesively across their separate workflows.

Matte Paintings of St Michael’s Mount, Tinside Lido, Cardiff Castle & More

Inking the Five
Ink-over Pass
Adding FX details to the Dragonator 3000
Final Details
Peter's original sketch of Uncle Quentin's ride
Idea beginnings
Dragon Animation "Turntable"
Getting Started

A New Look for Anne and Quentin

Peter Baynton,
Director
What a joy it was to have the new GWR script land on my desk late last summer and find lurking within a flying dragon contraption. Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines was a sick-day staple of my childhood, along with Top Gun of course, and with my father and grandfather both career RAF pilots I was very excited about the prospect of getting airborne with Uncle Quentin’s flying machine. The daytime TV news reporter, whom we decided to name Seema Skoop in honour of a long line of alliterative fictional journalists, was another fun addition, as well as the inclusion of cameos by Essie & Maya, the stars of last year’s campaign "A Thrilling Engagement". It might not register in their brief appearance, but Maya is now pregnant - congratulations Maya and Essie!

Alongside the hero 60" film, we made three 10" social films with succinct, funny independent storylines and even more gorgeous locations around the South West of the UK.

In-keeping with the theme of legends and myths of this campaign, the Five hunt mermaids on the beach, join a conspiracy at the Tower of London and get into more hijinks at the top of Cardiff Castle.

Related work

See more about A Thrilling Engagement

A Thrilling Engagement

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See more about Five Get There First
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