BBC Creative has a nice BTS video for its Trails Will Blaze opener for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
The BTS documents the making of the stop-motion trailer created by BBC Creative in collaboration with animation studio NOMINT, directed by Yannis Konstantinidis.
Built entirely through stop motion, the project brought together hundreds of individually 3D-printed athlete figures, animated frame by frame against miniature mountain sets inspired by the Dolomites. Central to the process was a deliberate tension: pairing the absolute precision required by stop-motion animation with fire, an element that resists control. Flames were treated as a physical material rather than a visual effect, introducing real risk into an otherwise exacting craft.
The making-of also explores how sound, color, and atmosphere were shaped alongside the visuals. The finished trailer unfolds to a new arrangement of Verdi’s Requiem, recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus, and Crouch End Festival Chorus.
