This ice cold spot for the BBC channels the rawness of the winter games by blending 3D with replacement animation. Every frame mirrors the punishing conditions athletes face, where success comes down to precision and resilience. The ice cube became both a physical and metaphorical space, something to be conquered, a box to be broken out of.

Just as the athletes test their limits, so too did this production process. A total of 147 3D prints made it into the final cut. To mimic the texture of snow, everything was miniaturised, then shot in supermacro. At that scale, nothing is simple and each shot required a two-step setup: one pass to program the focus, another to capture the frame.

You can feel all that effort in the finished film embodying the extremity the athletes endure.

Production by Blinkink.