Eighteen-year-old animator Angelo Barrière was invited to New York by Sony Pictures to direct a promotional video with actor Tom Holland after his stop-motion clip went viral online.
Barrière, who posts his content on Instagram under the name Angelink Films, caught the attention of the production company with a short animation featuring Spider-Man action figures that he created entirely in his bedroom. The video consisted of 130 photographs sequenced using stop-motion techniques, a traditional filmmaking process that involves moving physical objects frame by frame to create the illusion of fluid movement. Working at a rate of twelve frames per second, Barrière noted that producing just ten seconds of footage required between ten and twenty hours of labor.
Days after the video was posted, Barrière received an email from Sony Pictures offering him the chance to shoot a clip with Holland, the lead actor in the Spider-Man franchise. Two days later, he boarded a flight to the United States, carrying two Spider-Man action figures in his suitcase.
Directing a superhero
The teenager was taken to the twenty-eighth floor of a Manhattan office building for his meeting at the Sony Pictures offices. He was given ten minutes to direct a twenty-second promotional clip featuring Holland and American actor Jon Bernthal, who portrays the vigilante known as the Punisher in the latest film. Barrière instructed the two actors as they filmed miniature stop-motion sequences.
Following the collaboration, Barrière saw his Instagram audience grow to more than 100,000 followers. His original stop-motion animation has accumulated more than sixteen million views across social media platforms.
The collaboration comes as the latest installment in the franchise, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, achieves massive global success. According to the entertainment publication Premiere, the movie is on track to become one of the highest grossing films in box office history.
Box office phenomenon
Premiere reported that the superhero movie currently trails only the science fiction epic Avatar and its 2.9 billion dollar gross, the superhero ensemble Avengers: Endgame with 2.7 billion dollars, and Avatar: The Way of Water at 2.3 billion dollars. The magazine noted that the film is also closing in on the lifetime earnings of Titanic and the 2025 Chinese release Ne Zha 2.
The commercial success follows initial hesitation from the lead actor. Holland had previously indicated that returning to the role of Spider-Man was not an obvious choice for him, but that the concept for Brand New Day ultimately persuaded him to sign on.
Barrière is now preparing to continue his work in the American film industry. The young creator is expected to collaborate with Marvel Studios again in late December to help promote the next Avengers ensemble film.
