Eric Lerner adds character to the Beijing Olympics with his high-tech animation

Tel Aviv-based animation director Eric Lerner has already impressed at the Beijing Olympics.

His latest creation - a television advert for Coca-Cola - was aired internationally at last week's opening ceremony. Mr Lerner, 25, was asked by Coca-Cola to design and direct the commercial after the brand's advertising agency, Wieden+Kennedy, saw some of his previous creations online. He tells People: "I was getting all this attention due to my graduation project, which was a series of short films that were pretty popular at the time on the web."

A graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Mr Lerner works as an animator for production company Partizan Lab. "When Wieden+Kennedy found out I was signed as a director, they were very excited and wanted me to direct the commercial."

Mr Lerner, who has previously directed a UK Vodafone commercial, says the Coca-Cola ad is by far the biggest thing he has worked on. "The script came from W+K, but I am proud to say the character designs are my own, along with, of course, the direction of the piece. We filmed the commercial in Argentina, Kenya and China. The trip around the world was a amazing, especially for me, being new to big campaigns."