The Winter Olympic Games in Beijing are just around the corner, with the opening ceremonies slated for February 4. The 24th Winter Games will feature athletes from nearly 100 nations competing across 109 events. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has released an amazing advertisement to build up hype for the games.

At first, the video may look computer-generated. However, it is much more and features a lot of real props and practical effects. The advertisement features 3D printed props created by 3M Buckley Innovation Centre and miniature model work by ScaleModelStudios.

James Cross, creative director at BBC, shared a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the Winter Olympics promo video. The video shows the highly-detailed models, and some of the lighting and camera riggings used to capture the photos. The final promo video combines great craftsmanship, ingenuity and impressive technology.

Twitter user Paul Raffaelli asked Cross, ‘How come you didn’t just do it all in 3D software?’ to which Cross replied, ‘Good is the enemy of great, etc.’ It takes a lot of time and effort to create anything using stop motion methodology, let alone a stop motion video with as much detail and finesse, but I’d say it was well worth it.