Sandinyoureye has helped make the world’s largest stop motion animation made with our sand drawing in collaboration with Aardman Animation (Wallace and Gromit) and Sumo Science.  And what’s more, all this was shot on a small camera phone called a Nokia N8!

Below is the film itself.  Enjoy!

And the making of….

I’m laying down on a grassy knoll that is perched on the top of a sea cliff just out of Pendine in Wales. I’ve taken the path along the coast for a quick stroll and saw this nice little spot just a few yards away.  There are gulls flying over above, the occasional chaff chaffing away.  I’m now facing the sky and listening to the waves thundering against the cliffs and sending spray up in the air, it is high tide and a storm has just passed, their barrage against the cliffs is relentless.  I have a deep sense of contentment that glows inside against the cold wind and light rain.  I am beginning to doze off into a gentle welcomed sleep, I am totally still now, arms splayed out and the waves singing to me, the birds beginning to take flight in my dreams, their song in the local dialect, they are speaking as if with real words.  And then their tone begins to change, it starts to become a little harsher, there is a commotion, a sudden distress.

“Oh, my god!” squawks the bird in a thick Welsh accent.  “Look over there!”  There is a shrill scream.  I am becoming very confused, beginning to wake and not sure why the birds are talking and screaming “It’s a body!”  The birds have turned into children, Suddenly I begin to realise I have fallen asleep, I begin to wake, but I was more asleep than I had realised and it takes some time.  “He’s dead!” says a Child’s young voice still very young, but old enough to go and explore by themselves.    My brain is now almost fully awake but my body is way behind.   I manage to move my head.  Another scream at the added shock of the corpse coming to life.  “I’m not dead!”  “Oh my God!” “I’m not dead, it’s OK, I’m not dead, just having a sleep”

“He’s not dead, he’s saying he’s not dead.”  There is then a pause of contemplation followed by a sudden tone of reprimand.  “Well, you could at least have answered when I shouted at you!”

“Sorry, I’m fine. Sorry, I’m not dead.”

And then with a parting shot “I thought I was going to have to resuscitate you!” And then on they went, their voices fading away into the distance.  It is good to know that the children of Wales are all abled to perform resuscitation when required.  I don’t think I disturbed them too much, I’m sure they see English corpses scattered all over the place.

But I welcomed this short sleep on the sea cliff.  As I said, I had a deep sense of contentment inside and its warmth had made me drowsy and seduced me into a sleep.  We had just done something rather marvellous on the beach just in the bay there.  It was once again an example of being in a special place whilst making something quite spectacular with some simply amazing people, especially those that had volunteered and were embracing the weather sheltering in only their tents.  We had together with those from Aardman and Ed and Will from Sumo Science began to make the largest……

I don’t think I should say yet. 

The Gulp Set

One show sand drawing and Jamie Wardley

This was the task put to us on Tuesday afternoon by Louise at the One Show.  I decided that we could.

One of the biggest challenges was to find a team that was able to do it at such a short notice, but to their credit Andy Firth, James Haigh and Thomas Bolland wangled their other work commitments to come on board and make this drawing in sunny Blackpool.  We were also joined again by pandorA who hadn’t blessed us with her presence on a sand drawing since the RSPB gig last year.

I decided that we would make a portrait of Randy Newman, an American singer and songwriter  who was to be on the One Show the following day, he is very famous from the 70’s but now more well known for writing music scores for animation films such as Toy Story.  Mark who was the One Show Producer kept asking me over the phone, “So do you really think you will be able to finish it by 7pm?”  The poor lad had his doubts, “….and do you really think it will look like Randy Newman?”  There was a little strain in his voice as he struggled to comprehend that this was possible.  “We’ll make it by seven and I think it will look like him.”  I was quietly confident.

One Show Sand Drawing

The following morning we rushed to Blackpool to do a reconnaissance of the beach just before the sea came in.  We would do our measurements for the drawing whilst the beach was still exposed which would be key later in the day so that we could get straight down onto the beach and begin drawing once the tide went back out to make our 7pm deadline.  When you are viewing an image at an angle you have to stretch it in perspective so that it stands up and for this you need to make sure your measurements are correct. For the boffs out there this is called anamorphsis.

After two hours of driving we pulled up to the central pier at Blackpool.  The tide was already in.  We were unable to make our measurements. This was not a good start to the day.

A phone call from Mark: “So it will be finished by 7pm yeagh?”

“Yes.”

Patiently we waited for the tide to subside, waiting for the moment when the sea would reveal some sand and we would fly like rockets.  In the meantime the BBC camera crew of five turned up and we settled a few problems.  At 3pm the sea began to reveal a section of sand, it was time to make our preparations.  Seven o’clock here we come.

James has had enough

At 3:20 there was enough sand for us to do the measurements that we were supposed to do in the morning.  PandorA came by and did her thing.  I hope she is not embarrassed when I say that she is quite amazing.  Totally understated, you would not comprehend her genius if you saw her, but genius she is.  With ease she plotted the image and recorded all the measurements, we are privileged that she was able to join us.  The boys on the ground then began to prepare our gridding system whilst I went to the computer to print off the stretched design.

The printer wasn’t working.  Oh dear.

Oh, it’s not on. Just press the button Mr Wardley.

By 3:50 the grid and our design were all ready. Tom, Andy and I began to draw whilst James raked in the large areas and then finished the lines after we’d drawn them.  It’s an interesting sensation drawing in the sand, there are all the pressures of the camera crew, the incoming tide and the actual project itself, but drawing in the sand is a sensation of tranquillity as you drift off to the place where it is just you and the lines you draw.   I love it.

At 4:30 Mark came down onto the beach from the pier where the image was being viewed.  His whole demeanour had changed and he was beaming with delight, approaching me with a big grin on his face, “It is looking absolutely amazing!”  We were some way from finishing but this was very encouraging as we on the ground had not yet seen the image from above.

Tom Bolland puts the finishing touches to the Randy Newman Sand Drawing for the One Show

“Will you finish it by 7pm?”

“No……  we will finish it by five.”  This sand drawing went very well and we finished it with ease.  After cleaning the image we popped up onto the pier to have a peek at our creation and see what adjustments we had to make.  On looking at it we had to make none.  It worked fine just the way it was and yes I think it did look like dear old Randy Newman as did Randy when he saw it on the show later on.  Thank you Randy Newman for giving us such an interesting face to draw and good luck with your future musical creations!

Again, many thanks to Tom, Andy and James for coming out with me at such a short notice.

Jamie

If you would like to see the one show episode then click the iPlayer link below.  We are at the end of the show!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b010y5lr/The_One_Show_04_05_2011/

Picasso's dove of Peace by sandinyoureye and Holly Lodge School

This moment of serenity had come by collaborating with two Liverpool Schools and sharing with them a day drawing in the sand on the great beach of Crosby surrounded by the ubiquitous sculptures of Antony Gormley.  These schools were Calderstones and Holly Lodge respectively, full of kids with charisma who like a small army of ants swept onto this huge beach and made two most wonderful pieces of art.  I thank them for their efforts and two great days spent on the beach with them.  I hope they didn’t ache too much afterwards.

The Dancer sand drawing made by sandinyoureye and Calderstones school

Also, thanks to the lovely Kathy Haywood who with great spirit marched us on and adorned the every so grateful Mr Moss with his Mexican sombrero with pink decoration; he will treasure it always.  And thanks to the chaps from River Media who were undaunted by the challenges of the scissor lift and were so patient with our bizarre choreography.  I look forward to seeing the films.

Jamie

This is the film dedicated to the UK’s largest beach sand drawing as commissioned by Island Records for Jack Johnson’s new album ‘To the Sea’.  It is also a very nice track by Mr Johnson I must say.  It is called “You and your heart.”  The film was made by the most talented Finnian Varney of aberration films.  The sand drawing was of course made by us at sandinyoureye with special thanks to Andy and Helen for a terrific job organiseing everything whilst I was galavanting around Holland making the himalayas out of 250 tonnes of sand.  I did make a nice Hare though if I do say so myself.

If you want to read the diary from the day then go to the blog page

800 meters long, 90 meters deep

I would like to thank the team for a very hard, but very good days work.  Nice one

The sandinyoureye team. From left to right: Ra Horgan, Richard Bottomley, Jamie Wardley, Andy Firth, Jason Lynn, Jo Billingsley, Tim Curtis, Jonny Sayers, James Haigh, Mark Yates, Warzier Mirza, Goran Namiq, Andy Moss. And not featured, Helen Tidswell, Finn Varney, Louis Waller, The Munson.

Jamie

800 meters long, 90 meters deep

Jonny Sayers was looking concentrated and trying to find James Haigh in the binoculars 800 meters away so that they could sight a straight line over the distance and tell the rest of the team where to put the guide string that was essential to the sand drawing.  Communications were being zipped down the radios but we seemed to be having serious problems.  There was an uneasy tension in the air.

The smudge is a tractor and the dots are people

Jonny turned to me: “It’s not working Jamie, they’re putting down the string, but because it is so long it’s not keeping straight and is blowing away in the wind.”   The whole process was taking far too much time and we were already behind with it.  Without a base line, all the measurements of the drawing are flawed and it is pretty much ruined.  The sea was humming with an 8ft swell, reminding us that it was still there and would be turning around in three hours to pursue us.  It was now 11am.

I looked down the line and could see what Jonny was referring to, the string just bowed out about 10 meters. “OK, this isn’t working.”  Our plan was drastically flawed.  I searched for my radio: “James, this is Jamie, are you receiving over?”

“Yes….we’re having problems with this baseline Jamie” James is not easily perturbed but I could feel the urgency in his voice.

“I know, the baseline isn’t working, send everyone back to this part of the beach, you stay where you are.”

James then came in on the radio again: “Send everyone back?”

I paused, taking another thought on what I was doing, I pressed the receiver, “Yes, send everyone back, but you stay where you are.”  At this moment I saw an attractive young woman hovering behind me.  I had seen her on her telephone earlier and Andy Firth who is our new technical manager had identified her as our contact from Island Records.  I had not yet met or even spoken to her as Andy had taken care of everything whilst I was in Holland.  She was the person who was commissioning the project and who had hired a helicopter to take a photograph of the image on completion that would read TO THE SEA – JACK JOHNSON, with the release date beneath.

I turned back to Jonny Sayers.  “Jonny, when everyone gets back we’re going to just measure and place in the markers for the drawing directly, without the string as reference.  Use that flag pole to sight on, we don’t need the string.”

I turned around to the young woman. “Hello, you must be Olivia.  I am Jamie.”

After I’d assured her that everything was fine I went about trying to explain to our team of 14 that we were abandoning the original plan and using another method.  It is a very daunting moment to turn away from what you know into the unknown when there is no time to think, just do.  So off went the team with a new task; I kept back the teams of Jo Billingsley and Andy Moss.  Andy Moss is a man beaming with friendliness and indefatigable energy that you would not tell at first glance with his handle bar moustache, piercing eyes and Brian May flowing black hair.  “Mr Moss, I need you to make the line by the sea opposite the base line, forget the measurements we don’t have enough time, just do it by eye.”  His eyes widened a little at the prospect of not measuring, but then settled again to the task ahead, eyebrows narrowing in acknowledgement to take on the challenge.  And so off he went carrying in hand his red plastic bag of worldly goods in place of his electric guitar.   I needed Jo Billinglsey and Jason Lynn to start with the actual drawing.  She had the first letter to make which was a T, 50 meters in length and 30 meters wide.  In total this image was going to be 800 meters long and 90 meters deep.  The first drawing we ever made was 20 meters long and 15 meters wide, and here we were attempting to make something that was 240 times bigger than the one we originally did only three years ago.  At this moment it seemed impossible and the pressure of contracts being broken and helicopters flying over an empty beach was looming.  But we were not going to give up that easily:

“Jo, get your drawing materials together, sticks, rakes, measuring tapes and guide lines.”  She nodded with her characteristic enthusiasm and went off with Jason to gather her weapons.  The drawing phase had begun.

It was not a surprise to me when I saw that this too was too slow.  Jo is extremely talented, but I had laboured her with a method that relied too much on guide lines and measurements.  I glanced around to see how the base line was going; currently the whole team except Jo’s was absorbed in it.  It was now 11:30 and we should have started drawing an hour ago, low tide was at 14:20.  Each letter now needed to be made in only half an hour, a frightening task.  I looked on at Jo and Jason, with determination they cracked on, but the speed in which they could work seemed futile; we would not finish the drawing in time.  All this use of measuring tapes and pink lines was slowing things down.

A lesson that I once learnt with sand sculpture in my early days dawned on me.  I once made a 400 tonne Mayan temple and measured everything implicitly.  My colleagues mocked me for this, saying, ‘why don’t you just use the length of one of your tools to measure with.’  I looked at a rake lying redundantly on the sand and promptly measured it.  1.5 meters long, I couldn’t believe it. This was perfect as most of the measurements were multiples of 3’s.  I then started measuring small distances with only my rake, placed in a marker stick and then measured in another marker that was 50 meters away to the bottom of the letter.  The previous method was then to place a string in between the markers to give a straight line to rake by.  But could I draw a straight line over that distance without a guide string?  We had no other choice, this had to work.  I boldly took my rake and attempted to draw straight over 50 meters, keeping my eyes on the little stick stuck in the ground 50 meters away. Finally I reached it and with an intake of breath looked back over the line I had just made. Unbelievable.  A little bendy, but of no consequence, the tractor would take care of that.  I placed in more markers and travelled the distances, in 8 minutes I had made the letter H unaided with only the use of a rake and map.  It suddenly dawned on me that I was surrounded by brilliant artists who did not need string.  “Jo!, forget the string, just draw!”

From this point on the tables turned.  Jo rapidly took charge of the new technique and promptly finished the letter T with ease.  I was finally able to awaken the dormant beast of the tractor that had been waiting quietly for its moment in the shade of the cliffs.  With a nod to its master the tractor roared into life and drew up its mighty form beside me with its giant rake in tow.  The master opened the door and I said “Just rake between the lines.”  The master nodded, closed the cab door, and with a roar the tracker sped off and began to paint between the lines, tearing up the beach as it went.  We were over an hour behind, but the first brush stroke had been made.

I grabbed my rake and began to make the letter E.  Afterwards, I called on the radio to have everyone return to me once the baseline had been completed.  The great Mark Yates and his team had already begun the letters that had curves using an entirely different technique and this at least was a great success.  They were flying along in their steady way.  Soon Warzier Mirza, Andy Firth and Andy Moss returned to me.  I showed them the new method.

The look of despair that had painted our faces earlier was suddenly replaced by hope and the realization that we did have a slim chance of doing this.

“That’s a piece of piss Jamie!” cheered Andy Moss.

“It is, forget the strings and measuring tapes.  Just draw.”  I was fortunate at this point also by the people I was surrounded by.  In times of hopelessness some people will simply give up on a project that is seemingly doomed to failure, whereas others will simply get on with it in the hope that I or another will think of something and that we will prevail.  I am a very lucky man as my team is full of these kinds of people and it is a quality that I look for in a person.  To this end we had not lost too much time and our new methods could save us.

The writing from the cliff

Two hours later and I got a radio message from Andy Firth.  He seemed anxious.  We were by this stage almost finished with the drawing phase: “Jamie, are you receiving over?”

“This is Jamie, receiving over.”  I began running towards Andy Firth who had been doing a great job of co-ordinating the team.  He was currently working on the numbers that were the date below the letters and quite close to the sea, he was not far away

“Jamie, I’m worried about this tide”.  This I could see on his face as I came closer, usually so calm Andy looked genuinely worried and strained.  I clipped the radio onto my belt as we came into shouting distance.

“Me too, the tide was due to turn only ten minutes ago, but it looks to have done so earlier.  It is definitely coming in now.”  The race was on; our great moon orbiting 384 thousand kilometres away was now dragging the sea back up towards us.

I looked behind me to see where the tractor was.  It was doing a fantastic job and had covered so much ground.  My first instinct was that we were doing great but then I looked at the plans and realised that he was only on the end of the first phrase.  The sheer size of this image had tricked me, he had indeed done a vast area, but it was in fact less than half of the drawing.

“What’s our ETA on this?” asked Andy.

“I’m not sure, the sea should stay for a while, but once it turns it will gain momentum and race in.” It was currently only 30 meters away from the bottom of our numbers which themselves had not been completed yet.

Andy looked grim.  A small rake in his hand and this vast area to rake “I’m afraid that the sea will take the numbers before we finish the letters.”

“That could well happen.” I replied.  I reached for my radio.  “This is Jamie to Mark Yates, are you receiving over?”

A calm voice came over the radio.  “Aye Jamie Lad”

“How long have you before you have finished the curved letters?”

“We’re on the last one now”.

“OK, when you’ve finished I need you to come back over here and begin raking.”  It was now all hands on deck.

The moments that passed from then on were filled with running around letters with a rake.  This seemed futile when we had a tractor, but it was making a difference.    I went up to the beast and spoke to its master.  “Time is critical now.  The sea is only 15 meters away from the numbers and we need to finish these letters before it gets them.  At this moment I just need you to rake as much area as you can and we will come after you and fill in the details.”  The master made a sharp nod and shut the cab door, off he went.

We soon finished raking the numbers by hand and I had everyone except Andy Firth charge to the remaining letters.  “Andy, you stay by the numbers and watch the sea.”

“But what if the sea starts to take the numbers before you’ve finished the letters?”

“Then you must call the helicopter.”

And so on we went, all of us charging round raking full 50 meter letters by hand, Mark Yates breaking his with his efforts.  James and Jonny exhausted as they had been cleaning up after the tractor, but still raking on.

Andy Firth came through on the radio.  He was standing by the numbers.  “Jamie, I’ve been measuring how far the sea is coming in every five minutes and we have not got long.  What is our estimated time of finishing?”

“Very soon now.  Make the call Mr Firth.”  Soon, the whole team was on the final letter N raking the sand, only the lone Andy Firth who with his partner Helen had worked so hard organising this whole project was not there.  He was acting as guardian against the sea, willing it to stay at bay for just a few moments whilst the helicopter was scrambled; hoping that it would not take the precious numbers before we finished.  At this moment I looked around me to the faces of those involved and saw sheer delight and disbelief as we were on the eve of achieving what four hours ago seemed utterly impossible.  Although our bodies were aching we raked for the shear enjoyment of it.

And then the hum of our bird in the air.  “Jamie, are you receiving over.”

“Yes Mr Firth, I’m receiving over.”

He was excited. “Look to the sky.”

“I’ve already seen it”

“Have you finished the last letter yet?”

“We have indeed Mr Firth, we have just finished raking the last letter, OVER.”

“WHOOOOOO,”  I couldn’t see him as he was so far away, but I feel he was probably jumping with joy at that moment.

JACK JOHNSON - TO THE SEA 31-05-10

Whilst the helicopter buzzed around we made our way up the cliff to get a glimpse of what we had achieved. On the way up I saw Olivia again with a chap I assumed to be Scott.  I had heard lot from reading the emails between Andy Firth and them but had never written or spoke to them directly.  This is testament to my faith in Andy and Helens ability to run a project with me quietly directing in the background and making plans.  There is no way that this project could have gone ahead without them, I would have simply had to have said no as I was in Holland and couldn’t have prepared for it.  It is great to have a team.  Not just for the practical element, but for the fact that we are able to so readily bounce ideas off each other and encourage one another.  Oliva and Scott were ecstatic by what we had done, and the photographer in the helicopter couldn’t believe what he saw when he came over the horizon.   After shaking hands and saying goodbye we paced up the rest of the hill.  The whole team was already there looking onto our work.  I looked over Jo’s shoulder to see our work.  I could only make out the last three letters of Jack Johnson’s name, not because Jo was in the way, but because it was so big.  S O N is all I could read.  Incredible.

Even though we faced difficulties, we had revolutionised the way of drawing in sand that day.  We have moved onto a new level where the image is so big that you can no longer see the people on the ground, even the bulk of the tractor is hard to make out.  I also learnt a clear lesson brought on by severe pressure.  If the method you are using is not working and will not achieve what you need to achieve, then you must stop using your time on it and think of something else.

The spirit of the sand drawing is overwhelming.  It was only the next afternoon that I actually saw the final image from the helicopter.  It was in my inbox the previous evening, but I was in no hurry to see it and went to bed instead.  I was enthralled with that euphoric feeling that always comes with these drawings, we were totally set against at one point but were not defeated and together overcame the problems and were victorious , it is the journey that you take with the people involved in that moment in time that is the key and the joy.  The image itself is just a very tasty cherry.  Today I spoke to Andy Moss and he said “I still cannot believe that we did it, I just cannot believe it!”

To the Sea! and to everyone that was involved!

The sandinyoureye team. From left to right: Ra Horgan, Richard Bottomley, Jamie Wardley, Andy Firth, Jason Lynn, Jo Billingsley, Tim Curtis, Jonny Sayers, James Haigh, Mark Yates, Warzier Mirza, Goran Namiq, Andy Moss. And not featured, Helen Tidswell, Finn Varney, Louis Waller, The Munson.

By the way, I think this was the biggest beach sand drawing in the world.  Heads up on that one if anyone know different.

Jamie

“So have your balls dropped yet?”  This was the question Andy Firth asked of me when I was just thirteen years old, it was my first week at the Big School.  In that first week I had auditioned to be in the school play for a performance called Blood Brothers and had somehow landed a great part of the younger Mickey.  I at that time was very small for my age, very skinny and very ginger, a recipe for disaster.  Fortunately I also had quite a good singing voice which kind of saved my skin in this hard nosed comprehensive city school called Butter Shaw Upper.

Andy’s reference to my balls was a very direct way of making a comment about my voice and physical maturity, half jest to the fact that I was still very much just a boy and half compliment as my singing back then was quite something.  I never really knew how to answer this question that Andy seemed to always ask me, but I knew it was just a gentle brotherly jibe.  You see, he had got the part of Mickey as well but at an older age, we were playing one and the same person.  Andy at this time was in his final year at school, five years older than me; dashing, tall, blond, and with all the girls swooning over him.  He looked out for me in that first year and when ever he saw me again afterwards he would always ask: “So have your balls dropped yet?”

During my final year at school I landed the part of the Dentist in the musical ‘Little Shop of Horrors’  I by this time was very comfortable in the school and was no longer short with high voice, although still very ginger. I had spent many a good year performing in the school plays which set me out with fantastic memories and the wonderful tool of self confidence which is indispensible in public environments .  In this final play I performed as the character of a masochistic womaniser and took great pleasure in thrusting my PVC clad pelvis in front of 300 people every other minute to their horror.  My unfortunate sidekick was Helen Tidswell who played a nurse.  We had to perform an evocative salsaesque dance to show just how sexy I was.  My balls were in fine order by this stage.

It is some years on now, and Andy and Helen now have a family together.  At this moment the three of us are sat eating Fish and Chips, our most glorious and world famous British cuisine that outclasses any Oyster dish.  The occasion is our weekly meeting to discuss the Sandinyoureye world, as Andy and Helen are now very much part of it. You see, they have agreed to help me run my modest business which will reduce the rattling that often goes off in my overcrowded brain.  When someone makes an enquiry, Helen answered it in her husky tones which varies depending on whether she has been singing that weekend.  When a sand drawing needs to be done, then Andy the Grid King takes over.  I am extremely lucky, as not only are they great at what they do, but I trust them implicitly from our performance days.  This is harder to come by than any shiny orange metal.

So to Helen and Andy, welcome and may we enjoy!

Jamie