Animation Nation: Andersen M

Andersen M – the brother and sister team of Martin and Line Andersen – are purists. Digital creation is not for them. Which is why the delicately magical worlds they create – usually in paper and sometimes within the covers of real books – are breathtaking. Their distinctive work is unmistakeably hand-crafted – largely the result of a sure and steady wielding of a sharp scalpel  – and exquisitely photographed.

For example, in Going West, their astounding, award-winning film for the New Zealand Book Council, the pages of a book are transformed into paper railtracks, delicately etched scrub grass, then houses, churches, graveyards and bridges, all cut from paper, eerily rising up from the book illustrating the narrated print. And in their recent TV promo for the Discovery Channel’s Shackleton; Death Or Glory, a boat created from old sea maps is tossed around on a rough sea made from star charts and a lifeboat sails in a mist of real smoke.

In keeping with their aesthetic, Martin and Line have mostly ignored the technology that makes the creative process smoother and more reliable, in favour of the human qualities of judgement and sheer skill. Though an impressive client list, which now includes Nationwide, means they’ve slightly modified their approach, their methodology remains consistent: after researching and writing their films together, Line designs and painstakingly cuts, folds and glues her paper creations, while Martin carefully lights and shoots the objects.

“We used to make more mistakes when we started,” says Martin, with Line nodding in agreement. “But we hadn’t studied animation, so we didn’t know what equipment people were using. We just learnt to work this way, where we talk about the project, say ‘let’s go’ and then don’t talk for the next ten hours because we’re concentrating so much.”

Growing up in southern Denmark, Martin and Line moved to the UK some 10 years apart. The older Martin came in the early 90s, studied typography at Ravensbourne College, and then specialised in photography for his MA at the RCA. He went on to work with legendary graphic designer Vaughan Oliver, before launching Anderson M as his own design studio, to focus mainly on music packaging and art book design. Line came to London in 2003 to study for her MA at Central St Martins, specialising in illustration and modelmaking.

After a couple of collaborations on promos for Southbank Centre and More4, the brother and sister team took the gamble to focus on making the Going West film for eight months to fully showcase the technique that Line modestly describes as “simple”. “I draw a template first for the things I animate, and then I just cut a very faint line that the camera won’t pick up,” she explains. “Then I just follow it with the scalpel, and then lift and fold and glue bits together. It’s a very simple idea really. But it is very time-consuming.” Martin adds that making Going West “nearly bankrupted us, but it was worth it.” It went on to collect two gold Lions at Cannes in 2010, and they signed with 15 Badgers for commercials soon afterwards.

Going sunny side up for Nationwide

Work for Pan Macmillan, Star Alliance, JK Rowling, ITV, Tempo and American Express has followed – and their two spots for the Nationwide On Your Side campaign introduced a live-action element, as well suppressing the darker, more gothic aspect of their work. “We sort of fell into advertising, because we didn’t really know that was what we were doing when we did Going West,” says Line. But despite their work’s unique quality Martin points out that they are also considered to be “very dark” by numerous advertisers. “Nationwide was a very difficult client to convince that we could do something bright, summery and light, with no dark shadows.”

The siblings continue to work on non-motion design work, including music packaging and book design, but Martin states that their most recent film project, Discovery Channel’s Shackleton promo, was their most creatively fulfilling in a while. “We made the main boat from an old map from 1839, before the South Pole was discovered,” he reveals. “These things are important to us, because it gives it some meaning.  That’s where the ideas come from, why we get excited about the projects.”