Heckler Appoints New Global ECD Adrian Lawrence
April 29, 2026
Launched in 2025 by creatives from MPC and The Mill, London VFX shop The Perlin makes their Stash debut with this daring tale of feathery escape directed by DOM&NIC thru Jung Von Matt Donau for Austrian banking giant Erste.
DOM&NIC: “At its heart, the story is about determination, resilience, and the refusal to give up and we wanted to bring the audience along on that journey in the most entertaining, cinematic and emotionally involving way possible. We wanted the audience to empathize with the bird as a character, but never lose the sense that this is a real bird in a real cage.”
“The animation had to stay grounded in behavior that felt believable and true to life, so the audience could enjoy the fantasy while also feeling it could really happen.”
From The Perlin: “One of the biggest challenges was keeping the character performance appealing without anthropomorphizing it. The animation had to stay grounded in behavior that felt believable and true to life, so the audience could enjoy the fantasy while also feeling it could really happen.
“To achieve this, the team closely studied real bird movement and built reference libraries to capture specific behaviors for each moment in the film. The key was shaping performance, intent and timing without breaking realism.
“This was supported by a bespoke feather system developed in Houdini, with hand-keyed animation driving the main body and wing performance. A particular challenge was creating seamless transitions between open and folded wings, solved through complex simulation that allowed the feathers to fold naturally into one another.”
Client: Erste Group Bank
Agency: Jung Von Matt Donau
CD: Mike Nagy, Christopher Eder
Copywriter: Anna Soteropoulos, Mike Nagy
Art Director: Christopher Eder
Production: Kaiserschnitt Film
Director: DOM&NIC
DoP: Franz Lustig
EP: Matthias Papst
Senior Producer: Billie Krobath
CG/VFX: The Perlin
VFX Supervisor: Anthony Bloor, Fabian Frank
Previs: Dane Armour
Modeling: Sian Warren
Groom Artist: Kristiana Turlaja
CFX/FX :Andreu Lucio Archs, Paul Carouge
Animator: Sherin Mahboob, Mack Knights, Daniel Kmet, Alberto Lara
Lighting: Fernando Tortosa, Matthias Lullini
Lead Compositor: Declan Andrews
Compositor: Adrian Monroy
Producer: Alessandra Milani
Edit: Final Cut
Editor: Ed Cheesman
Grade: Company3
Colorist: Jean-Clément Soret
Additional Colorist: Matthieu Toullet
Color EP: Ellora Soret
Producer: Edwin Elkington
Music Supervision: Leland Music
Supervisor: Dhamirah Coombes
Music Producer/Arranger: Guy Farley
Song: Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon “That’s Life”
Sound: Factory
CD: Anthony Moore
Sound Design/Mix: James Utting
Producer: Amelia Watts, Olivia Endersby
