Philadelphia couple Peter Heacock and Marie Hart are the creators of the claymation visuals seen in the “A Philly Special Christmas Special” stop-motion holiday video, writes Asha Prihar for Billy Penn at WHYY.

The two of them, founders of unPOP Animations, shot the special in their Mt. Airy garage.

It took about four-and-a-half months, 5,000 hours of work, 5,000 photographs, and 20 handmade puppets to turn the video from a concept to a reality.

Heacock compares that process to every John Hughes movie where the jock gets together with the art students.

“In this analogy, we’re the nerdy art girl hanging out with the big football players,” he said.

Heacock combined his background in film with Hart’s background in crafts and landscape architecture to specialize in stop-motion animation and content creation.

While the couple have worked with the Eagles twice before, this animated Christmas video represents their biggest project with the team. 

“I really feel like Pete just … made the Eagles happen by sheer force of will,” Hart said. “He was like, ‘I want to make something for the Eagles. I don’t care what.’”

While still relatively early in their foray into using dolls and puppets, their production is receiving nice praise.

Read more about Peter Heacock’s and Marie Hart’s creative journey in Billy Penn at WHYY.

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