Laying the dead to rest has never been so much trouble.

This Oscar Nominated short is directed by Smith & Foulkes and written by Foulkes, Smith, and Christopher O’Reilly, and produced at Nexus by Charlotte Bavasso and Christopher O’Reilly, the film follows two dour unfortunates as they battle a series of misadventures while trying to deliver a coffin to the graveyard.

The animated caper is a series of emotional and literal pitfalls for the pall-bearing team, as their journey and relationship unravel on an epic scale culminating in the pair joining the old lady in a trip through the underworld.

‘This Way Up’, was nominated for an Oscar® for best animated short at the 81st annual Academy Awards.

Before its Oscar win, “This Way Up” won numerous awards at film festivals around the world, including an Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival, the Public Prize for Best Short Film at the 2008 Ottawa Animation Festival, the Audience Award for Animated Short at both the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and the Mundos Digitales in Spain.

Full Credits Below:

Directed by Smith & Foulkes
Written by Smith & Foulkes and Christopher O’Reilly
Produced by Charlotte Bavasso and Christopher O’Reilly
Co-producer Christine Ponzevera

Production Company Nexus Productions Ltd

3D Animatic and Layout Nicolas Domerego (Supervisor)
Ben Cowell
Simon Landrein
Stuart Doig
Antoine Bourruel

3D Modelling & Texturing Darren Price (Supervisor)
Michael Greenwood
Vincent Fiere
Ben Bigiel
Alison Bond
Nicolas Domerego
Simon Landrein
Kuba Gryglicki
Benjamin Devaux
Guillaume Julien

Character Set-up and Rigging Luis San Juan Pallares (Supervisor)
Miguel Garcia Lluch
Michael Greenwood
Rudi Hammad

Background Digital Painting Adam Willis (Supervisor)
Florian Mounié
Justin Atkinson

Pipeline TD Luis San Juan Pallares

Storyboard artist James Husbands

Technical Director Mark Davies

CG Animators Reece Millidge
Stuart Doig
Steve Brown
Antoine Bourruel
Mélanie Climent
James Wilson
Mark Davies
Roly Edwards
Dominic Griffiths
Boris Lowinger

Lighting and Rendering Nicolas Domerego
Simon Landrein
Maelys Faget
Florian Mounié
Jerome Haupert
Ludovik Boden
Guillaume Cassuto
Darren Rolmanis

Visual Effects and Compositing Fletcher Moules (Supervisor)
Sheldon Gardner
Jerome Haupert
Dylan White
Navid Bagherzadeh
Clayton McDermott
Kwok Fung Lam

Cloth simulations Lora Jensen

Render assistant Jens Blank

Sound designer Andre Jacquemin
at Redwood Studios

Re-recording Mixer Craig Irving
at Twickenham Film Studios

Voice over artists Marc Silk (Son, Granny, Red demon)
Chris Grant (Dad)

Original music by MPM London

Arrangement by Andy Mellon

Music Consultant Jonny Trunk

Existing music Song ‘Happy Weekend’
Sung by Ray Merrell
Composed and written by Jack Fishman and Roy Budd
Published by JHP & Mood Media

Head of Productions Julia Parfitt

Studio Manager Theano Kazagli

Production Manager Jo Bierton

Head of 3D Ben Cowell

Nexus Productions support Denise Abraham
Matt Archibold
Tim Dillon
Ben Hunt
Ian Mansel-Thomas
Thana Shanmugam
Matt Shepherd
Alice Wigley

Special thanks to Mike Judge, Don Hertzfeldt, Rebecca Moline,
Nicolas Schmerkin

A Nexus Productions

Made with the support of BBC Films, BBC Comedy & BBC Film Network

for BBC Film Network
Executive Producers Claire Cook and Gerard O’Malley

Creative Head, BBC Comedy Kenton Allen

for BBC Films
Executive Producer Beth Richards
Production Executive Matthew Vizard


with the support of The Animation Show

Co-production : Arcadi
(Action régionale pour la création artistique et la diffusion en Ile de France)