The Making of Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games trailer by BBC Creative
Go behind the scenes of Trails Will Blaze, the BBC Creative trailer for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
This film documents the making of the stop-motion trailer created by BBC Creative in collaboration with animation studio NOMINT, directed by Yannis Konstantinidis.
Built entirely through stop motion, the project brought together hundreds of individually 3D-printed athlete figures, animated frame by frame against miniature mountain sets inspired by the Dolomites. Central to the process was a deliberate tension: pairing the absolute precision required by stop-motion animation with fire—an element that resists control. Flames were treated as a physical material rather than a visual effect, introducing real risk into an otherwise exacting craft.
The making-of also explores how sound, colour and atmosphere were shaped alongside the visuals. The finished trailer unfolds to a new arrangement of Verdi’s Requiem, recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus and Crouch End Festival Chorus—reinforcing the sense of scale and anticipation ahead of Milano Cortina 2026.
This behind-the-scenes film offers insight into the craft, collaboration and creative risk involved in preparing one of the BBC’s most ambitious Olympic trailers to date.
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