Aardman Animations created a 360-degree short film titled Special Delivery, about a custodian searching for the intruder who has been knocking snow off the roof of the apartment building he’s tending to and breaking into people’s homes to leave presents.
By clicking and dragging the YouTube video on your computer or physically moving your Android mobile device with the video playing (iOS support is on the way, according to Variety), the viewer can look around Aardman’s cardboard cutout world to spot St. Nick popping up in various locations with his custodian friend a few steps behind, among other surprises (try to find the cat on the clothing line). Sometimes, the characters will be in different places (ex: St. Nick on the roof, custodian on the ground) causing the viewer to maniacally drag their mouse or toss their phone to catch all the details.
Variety has an exclusive feature about the short with quotes from the filmmakers, information on the development process, and fun facts, like there are 60 trigger points to activate throughout the four-minute film. A behind-the-scenes video has also been uploaded to the Google Spotlight Stories YouTube channel that hosts the original short film, which can be viewed below.
Aardman Animations is a British animation studio responsible for the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit films, Chicken Run, and Arthur Christmas. Their most recent feature-length film, the critically-acclaimed Shaun the Sheep Movie, scored a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature Film last week.
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