Jon Lerner Joins Versus as Head of Experiential
April 23, 2026
If the purpose of an in-house motion project is to truly let loose with ideas and techniques, the team at Art&Graft in London may have just set a new bar for audacity and sheer variety with their short film In The Pursuit of Magic .
Mike Moloney, founder/ECD at Art&Graft: “Our studio ‘Spark’ sessions (non-commercial/exploratory creative work) have always been central to Art&Graft. With In Pursuit of Magic we wanted to focus the entire team on developing a film around the idea of what it is to pursue creative excellence, both as an individual and as a collective.
“We set out to showcase of all the animation skills we have in the studio; 2D and 3D character animation, narrative storytelling, motion graphics, illustration, branding design, and everything in between.
“We wanted to focus the entire studio on developing a film around the idea of what it is to pursue creative excellence, both as an individual and as a collective.”
“We also loved the idea that the story and techniques gradually unfurl and surprise the audience, starting in what feels like a more classic 2D animated film, before slowly introducing other techniques.
“About the production pipeline: there was structured scripting and storyboarding, then rounds and rounds of animatics, and story ideas that never left the sketch stage, but these planned scenes were also combined and interspersed with many moments of ‘let’s see what we can do here’.
“The film didn’t feel anywhere near finished until we started to lay Zelig’s audio work against the picture. We knew how important the sound and music would be, so we engaged them as soon as our story was formed into an animatic. From there, it was a process of passing references and ideas back and forth, gradually becoming more refined and heightened with every pass.”
Production: Art&Graft
Director: Art&Graft
Team: Chloe Allen, Aleah Basu, Jess Batour, Morgane Billault, Lewes Bridson, Tom Bromwich, Max Callaby, Breda Canning, Sophie Caron, Adrian Cathie, Jack Chang, Louis Chevis, Suzie Cichy, Connor Duin, Evie Garner, Vicky Ghose, Freddie Griffiths, Jake Hardiman, Melek Hitch-Turkmen, PJ Joshi, Leio Kirtley, Ieuan Lewis, Hsin Lin, HsiJen Liu, Tom Merry, Stephen Middleton, Mike Moloney, Chen Morgan, Mathias Nielsen, Ezgi Pancar, Aimee Paul, Julie-Ann Rajkumar, Hannah Raleigh, Harry Smith, Alex Monk, Simona Somma-Mullins, Lou Toby, Gulya Voronova, Eloise Wayling, Felix Weyss, Layla Yang, Matthew Wilcock
Music/Sound design: Zelig Sound
