Paul Harrod of Bent Image Lab directed this spot deploying felt animation in which a newlywed man receives from his bride a gift he doesn't want–a mounted singing fish. The gent fumbles with his words as he tries to fake that he's thrilled over the present. In the foreground, Boston Pizza spokesperson Phil explains that giving Boston Pizza gift cards is a great way to avoid "Festive Fakery."
Harrod said he was drawn to the concept from Toronto agency Taxi for the overall "Festive Fakery" campaign (for which he directed all six spots). Harrod observed, "The felt lent itself to the idea of that Christmas gift that you really don't want but you're kind of stuck with. Creating this project in felt, so it had the look of a craft project was absolutely ideal."
Harrod designed the flat felt sets, with character design by lead animator Jen Prokopowicz. The sets were cut into geometrical felt shapes and carefully layered into the set. The characters were created by hinging together the character's limbs with sticky wax at various joints to allow for animation. All of the elements in the spots are felt, with the exception of the Boston Pizza gift card which is practical and a cat who is made of faux fur and hair sprayed for an erratic effect. The sets and characters were side lit to define texture and create shadow. Everything was shot on a down shooter in 5K resolution. Bent's compositing team used Nuke to meld the backgrounds and characters together and scaled the felt puppets to provide depth to the scene, shrinking Gary and Cindy for background placement and enlarging Phil for stronger foreground appearance.
The six spots are intended for the web, with one spot also going to broadcast. The spots will live on Boston Pizza's "Festive Fakery" website which was also redesigned in felt to match the spots (http://festivefakery.com/).
"The tactile nature of the spot takes us back to our stop motion roots," said Bent executive producer Ray Di Carlo.
Sean Penn Accuses Academy Awards Of Cowardice At Marrakech Film Festival
Sean Penn on Tuesday blasted the organizers of the Oscars for being cowards who, in effect, limit the kinds of films that can be funded and made.
The 64-year-old actor said at the Marrakech Film Festival that he gets excited about the Academy Awards only on the rare occasion that films he values are nominated.
"The producers of the academy have exercised really extraordinary cowardice when it comes to being part of the world of expression and, in fact, have largely been part of limiting the imagination and limiting different cultural expressions," Penn said at the festival, where he received a career achievement award this week.
"I don't get very excited about what we'll call the Academy Awards," he said, noting exceptions when certain films grace the ceremony, including Sean Baker's " The Florida Project," Walter Salles' "I'm Still Here" and Jacques Audiard's " Emilia Perez. "
Penn's remarks dovetail longstanding criticisms of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for lacking diversity both within the ranks of its members and in terms of the films that they elect to promote and celebrate with awards.
The institution has in recent years tried to adopt more proactive steps to reform and rebrand itself, but has faced criticism for not going far enough to make meaningful changes.
Penn also lauded Iranian-Danish director Ali Abassi and his latest film "The Apprentice" about President Donald Trump. It faced difficulty finding an American distributor in the lead-up to the U.S. election in November.
"It's kind of jaw dropping how afraid this 'business of mavericks' is when they get a great film like that with great, great acting," he said. "They too can be as afraid as a piddly little Republican... Read More