To mark World Environment Day 2025, London-based creative duo Tom Wrigglesworth and Matt Robinson have released a charming short film that cleverly uses nature as the basis of the animation.

This is partly to draw attention to the threats to the UK’s environment – namely, the damage to the waterways caused by sewage pollution among other factors. In 2024, 2,487 ‘pollution incidents’ were recorded in England alone.

The pair, who work together as Tom & Matt, created 168 wooden panels featuring carvings of animal motifs. “Inspired by the negative space in the work of Kunio Kaneko, we cut shapes out of the wooden panels. The texture of the background became part of the image, the river illustrating itself,” the duo explain.

These were attached to wheel mechanisms that rotate when water flows past, similar to a water mill, creating a simple frame animation that’s complex in its construction.

Working in a natural setting meant they were “at the complete mercy” of the weather and the river itself, with the animations only really working effectively when the river reached a certain speed and flow.

Not only does the analogue animation method highlight the wonder of the natural world, and the urgent need to look after it, the film also responds to the sea of animations made using digital (and increasingly AI) techniques. The pair “wanted to step away from the noise and make something real, in camera, built by hand, rooted in nature and raising awareness to something that’s important and affects us all”.

tomandmatt.com