Stella Artois turned water's mark into a chalice zoetrope for Water.org

For its partnership with Water.org, Stella Artois commissioned Mother London to focus attention on the global water crisis.

A spinning spiral of decorated chalices forms a zoetrope: as water ripples outward, the animated figures it touches are changed — water leaves a mark.

Directors Bob Partington and Tim Brown built a complex helix zoetrope in Mallorca: two months of art-department build, locally laser-printed designs cut out and applied to the chalices by hand, a motion-control camera brought from the UK for the locked-frame animation, and a version featuring Matt Damon shot with a double.

The film ran as the newest chapter of the Stella Artois–Water.org partnership and was featured by Stash for its craft; the source gives no viewership or sales figures.

In January 2016, 1stAveMachine and Mother London released 'Learn How Water Leaves a Mark' for Stella Artois's partnership with Matt Damon's Water.org, an ongoing collaboration focused on the global water crisis. The centerpiece is a spectacular spiral zoetrope — an animation device spun from physical objects — directed by Tim Brown and the studio's 'resident master of physical magic' Bob Partington.

The build was a production feat. Line producer Dani Rotstein of Palma Pictures in Mallorca recounted that Partington came over weeks before the shoot to run tests with art director Martin Van Der Meijden; the art department worked two months from design to completion, built the sculpture in their workshop, then deconstructed it and moved it to studios in Binissalem four days before shooting. Designs were laser-printed locally, then cut out and placed on each glass by hand.

Filming was equally engineered: a special motion-control camera came down from the UK, with one shoot day to catch the locked-frame-rate animation shots and a second for other angles plus Matt Damon's double. Keeping light constant on plexiglass and glass in a daylight studio took three cranes with lights outside and lights on a neighbor's terraces. The result animates the campaign's idea — that access to clean water changes lives in ripples — through the brand's own chalice.

The water crisis is abstract for beer drinkers; a zoetrope turns 'water changes lives' into something you can watch happen.

Building the device from Stella's chalice ties the cause film back to the product without a hard sell.

In-camera craft gave the partnership film a second life in production and trade press like Stash.

The production combined a physical zoetrope, motion-control filming and credited VFX work; the source does not establish that the directors were chosen to avoid VFX.

Physical craft — a working zoetrope built from the brand's own glassware — makes an abstract cause visible one rotation at a time.

The film joined the Stella Artois–Water.org partnership's ongoing output; the Stash feature documented the behind-the-scenes build in Mallorca.