Pete Candeland of Friends Electric directed this animation spot for Great Western Railway featuring The Famous Five, a group of adventurous young children and their dog Timmy from the series of novels by English author Enid Blyton.
Titled “Five and the Missing Jewels," this ad out of agency adam&eveDDB, London, has the Famous Five chasing a scoundrel. And they’re able to stay in hot pursuit of him thanks to the Great Western Railway transit system.
Friends Electric worked in tandem with sister VFX/animation/post shop Electric Theatre Collective on the commercial, which is the second for the Great Western Railway that Candeland directed starring The Famous Five. Once again, Candeland meticulously crafts classic painterly images true to Blyton’s series of novels, realized with an adept use of CG.
Credits
Client Great Western Railway Agency adam&eveDDB, London Ben Tollett, group executive creative director; Matt Woolner, Steve Wioland, creatives; Louise Richardson, TV producer. Production Friends Electric, Los Angeles Pete Candeland, director; Neil Riley, TD; Ryan Goodwin-Smith, Belinda Blacklock, exec producer; Sian Jenkins, Adriana Wong, producers; Kristian Antonelli, character design; Yohann Auroux, storyboard artist; Brian Raess, editor. Painting Practice Billy Stockwell, art direction & DMP. VFX/Animation Electric Theatre Collective, London Daryl Graham, Tim Sanpher, Eleonora Quario, 2D animation; Taran Spear, Alex Prod’Homme, Courtney Pryce, Max van Leeuwen, Tom Humphrey, compositors; Sergio Morales Paz, Steve Beck, Paul Templeman, Annie Rowland, Joffrey Zeitouni, Lou Thomas, Paco Rocha, Stephane Renaldi, Borja Massa, Dana DiGioia, Joao Pires, Ashley Anderson, Gregory Martin, Daniel Rico, Hillary McCarthy, and Kimon Matara, CG team. Modeling Interference Pattern (Toolbox: Maya, Houdini, TVPaint) Audio 750MPH, London Sam Ashwell, Mark Hellaby, sound design & mix; Mary-Ann D’Cruz, audio producer. Music Supervision Company Theodore Tom Stanford, music supervisor. Licensor Enid Blyton Entertainment, Hachette Karen Lawler, head of licensed content.
How do you top one of the most viral brand videos ever made? Spoiler alert: you can’t. But when Dollar Shave Club tapped Zack Seckler to direct a new campaign to revive the absurdist humor of its iconic launch video, he knew he had a rare opportunity to create something special.
The brief was simple: introduce the concept of a physical “Club” that people would love to join while showcasing Dollar Shave Club’s products and embracing the weird. From script to direction and post, Seckler--an alum of SHOOT’s 2021 New Directors Showcase--was invited to help sculpt that vision.
The result is this “Welcome to the Club” spot which invites us to join a unique, seemingly exclusive but in reality an accessible and affordable fraternity of Dollar Shave Club members. But you need to know the password or more accurately, the two-word phrase--"shave money."
“The Club” campaign brings the brand back to its humorous roots, reflecting a new chapter after being acquired by Nexus Capital Management from Unilever in late 2023. The work takes Dollar Shave Club back to its disruptive beginnings and what made the brand a viral sensation from its inception in 2011.
