“The Tale of the Three Brothers” animation from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

After seeing the 7th feature film in the Harry Potter movie empire, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, there was one question that sent me searching as soon as I was home. Who was the animator behind the dark but gorgeous animated retelling of “The Tale of the Three Brothers” fable excerpted from J.K Rowling’s book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard?

The short, meticulously animated sequence in HP7 was designed and directed by Ben Hibon (under supervision of David Yates). Hibon worked side-by-side with the post-production house Framestore.

“...Directed by Ben Hibon (A.D., Codehunters, Heavenly Sword), the captivating sequence inspired by oriental shadow puppetry, visually narrates Hermione’s story about three wizard brothers who try to outwit Death. Led for Framestore by Dale Newton, the animation is created in sepia tones and its mysterious characters are conveyed through silhouettes and shadows, inspired by traditional eastern puppet theatre. The clip is so beautifully detailed and intricate that it required over six months of work by a team that peaked at 32 Framestore VFX artists...”
—excerpt from Framestore London

There is an insightful interview on fxguide with Dale Newton, the sequence supervisor for the animated masterpiece seen in the latest Harry Potter film, discussing the animation process in futher detail.

Below are some details from Ben Hibon’s background:

“Ben Hibon was born in Geneva, Switzerland where he completed studies in Fine Art. He moved to London in 1996 to study Graphic Design at the Central Saint Matins College of Art and Design, followed by a Masters Degree at the same school. In 2004, after working for 4 years as a Creative Director in a prominent London based design studio, he joined a commercial production company to move into directing...”—excerpted from (pdf) biography for Ben Hibon

Nexus Productions has a few show reels from the portfolio of Ben Hibon, including a commerical for Renault and animated episodes from Sony Playstation 3’s Heavenly Sword.

Ben Hibon is reportedly directing the upcoming film Pan, instead of Guillermo del Toro.