It’s always a good day when some new work from Aardman Animation shows up, such as the following ads for Fruit2Day.
The ads are part of a new national TV campaign in the U.S. Aardman was invited by the New York-based ad agency Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners to animate the ads.
Take a look at a couple of them:
The ads were directed by Peter Peake, who worked with illustrator Felicie Haymoz, who designed characters for the popular Wes Anderson animated movie Fantastic Mr. Fox.
“It was nice to have the chance to work with a script that called for a naturalistic delivery,” said Peake. “I always think this works well – putting an everyday voice into a furry little creature creates a bizarre combination that is for some reason inherently funny. Of course Aardman has a lot of experience in doing this kind of thing with their Creature Comforts short and series.”
The CG team at Aardman spent a lot of time developing the lush environment for the spots. Given that the bats were covered in a realistic looking fur the environment itself had to mirror this level of realism and attention to detail in order for them to fit comfortably into it. This meant creating three individual CG orchards that would be seen up close complete with a range of appetising fruits. In order to streamline this process, 3D elements around and in front of the characters were combined with 2D elements in the background. The team then had to ensure the different elements sat well together in the scene and created the desired illusion of depth. Adding a slight handheld feel to the camera helped to give a sense that the audience has discovered the bats and are observing their unusual behavior through the undergrowth, again echoing the naturalistic tone.
