Finish Window 'Snow Globe'

South African based Shy The Sun – a collective of designers, illustrators, sculptors and animators signed to Strange Beast – have created an animated winter wonderland for the bespoke projection platform in the window of our Wardour Street headquarters.

Finish Co-Founder Justine White comments ‘The Christmas season was our brief and the snow globe was all them. It could’ve been abstract or literal – it could’ve been anything as long as it was Christmassy. Our audience are the Soho passers-by, so the main idea is to create an enchanting loop which captures their attention for a few seconds and hopefully makes them smile’.

Shy The Sun says ‘Who wouldn’t want to create a giant Christmas card for the streets of London!? The snow globe came to mind and felt right. The window seemed like a natural container, or rather a natural porthole to a world in which the snow globe could exist. The scene depicted inside the snow globe was inspired by those classic depictions of quaint European villages in the mountains during Christmas time. 

Our plan was to keep it fairly simple so it reflected some of the naivety and innocence of an endearing little Christmas card. Having said that, the scene is littered with little animation loops, so the more you study the details and animation the more you see – a kind of a Where’s Wally type scene. So hopefully the viewer will see something new every time they walk by.’

Discussing how the collaboration came about, Justine says ‘We approached Strange Beast because, as a company, they’ve got such an interesting roster of directors. Sam has people on her roster who she’d thought would be appropriate and she put forward our brief to Shy The Sun, who then came back with their idea.’

It’s a unique platform which offers an endless array of artistic possibilities, although its poses some technical challenges for the creatives. The 3m x 1.5m screen is situated within the vast window space across the front of the Finish office and is made up of 27 panes. ‘One of the challenges for any filmmakers who are making pieces is the grid between the panels. Obviously they get in the way of a usual flat screen, but is gives them a creative dilemma that they can hopefully embrace’ says Justine. ‘The screen definitely comes into it’s own in the darker winter months and this charming piece will certainly light up Wardour St’.