More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A Gillingham supporter from Ashford has kept himself busy during lockdown by recreating some memorable moments.
Jack Gracie, 27, shared a couple of stop motion animated goals on social media and they’ve proved so popular that he’s planning on producing one a day to help keep spirits up.
Gracie, who has been a season ticket holder at the Gills since 2000, started the project by recreating Mikael Mandron’s stoppage-time equaliser at Sunderland, on March 7.
He said: “That was in the last game before the season was suspended, which I was lucky enough to see, and I think epitomises the feeling that all football fans will be missing most at the moment!
“Since then I’ve done Brandan Hanlan’s last minute winner at Blackpool and then going back a bit I’ve done Cody McDonald’s late winner against Wolves and Nicky Southall’s unbelievable goal against Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup.”
He’s also added commentary, along with replays, to add to the drama.
“There’s more to come and I am definitely open to requests!” he said.
He explained how the videos were made, saying: “Creating the goals is done mainly using stop motion, a photographic technique where you take a photograph after moving each figure a small amount and then play them one after the other to create the moving picture.
“It’s then finished with a mixture of video and photo editing - with lots of photoshop for the crowds - to create the finished video that you see.
“I decided to recreate the goals largely out of boredom due to the current lockdown. Football has been a big miss so this seemed like a fun way to at least attempt to have some sport in my life right now.
“I’m also a freelance photographer and videographer so it seemed like a good way to keep my skills sharp and replace the usual projects that I would be working on to keep some sort of routine.
“I never really planned to do more than a couple depending on how the end product turned out but they have gone down really well on social media with other fans guessing which goal it is, recommending goals I should do next, so now I think I will try to recreate one goal a day until the real football is back at least.
“It’s nice to be able to do something that is giving other people some entertainment during these times as well.
“As fun as recreating the goals is, I’m looking forward to getting back to watching real life, normal sized players as soon as we all can.”
Gracie has been a Gills fan since going to his first game, aged six and goes regularly to games, but moved from the Gordon Road Stand to the Medway Stand in recent times, sitting behind the benches.
He said: “The entertainment that is Steve Evans and Paul Raynor in the dugout and have not been disappointed!”
Gracie has his own website for his business and Gills fans can see his goals on his twitter feed.
More on the Gills;
