The culprit or culprits in this stop-motion animation mystery have left a gruesome trail that even the untrained eye can see right through.
This :60 for Tennents Lager opens on the periphery of a crime scene, with characters that lend a new dimension to anthropomorphism: drinking glasses that walk and talk, nearly all filled almost to the brim with ale. Each glass has arms, legs and a mouth. Two ranking glasses—presumably grizzled homicide detectives—are permitted to enter an area that has been cordoned off by police. A "cop" lifts the crime scene tape, allowing the pair of detectives to pass.
The detectives exchange some banter. But even these two street-smart guys are taken aback by what they see at the end of the alley: an empty glass laid out like a corpse. Every drop of life—in this case lager—has been drunk out of the glass character by a cold-blooded killer.
The noise of a cat knocking over a trashcan diverts the detectives’ attention to the right where they spy arguably an even more horrific sight: A glass that’s half empty or half full, depending on your perspective.
"Look, he’s missing half his head," says a horrified detective.
The ailing lager glass looks up at the detectives and tries to describe the perpetrators. "Pink monsters," says the headless character.
One of the detectives spots what he surmises is "some kind of twisted calling card" left at the crime scene: a "T" (the Tennents Lager logo) on a white piece of cardboard.
The next scene puts us smack dab in the middle of a coroner’s office. The dead, empty drinking glass character is laid out across an examining table. The glass-character coroner comments in disbelief, "I’ve seen chips, cracks, spillages, breakages—but this is just plain sick."
"Whatever it was must have wanted every last drop," deduces one of the detectives.
Another cop enters the room, relating that the half-empty survivor glass has given a detailed description to a police artist. The result is displayed by the cop: a sketch of the murderer, which is a human hand.
"That’s totally gruesome," says one detective.
"What kind of monster are we dealing with here?," responds his sleuthing colleague.
This sketch of five fingers is then seen on a "Wanted" poster being nailed to a wooden telephone pole by yet another glass character. Suddenly, the shadow cast by a human hand engulfs the glass man who is clearly about to be drunk dry by the five-fingered assailant. The glass shudders in fear, aware that his final fate is sealed.
The hand comes into view, about to knock off another pint.
The screen goes black, against which appears a super that reads: "Murder one, tonight"; the last "t" in "tonight" is the Tennents logo.
Darren Walsh of Bristol, U.K.-based Aardman Animations directed the humorous tongue-in-cheek commercial, entitled "Pintlings," for The Leith Agency, Edinburgh. Walsh headed a group of Aardman stop-motion animators, which consisted of Richard Webber, Terry Brain and Charlotte Warsaae. The DP was Tristan Oliver. The job was executive produced by Aardman’s Dave Sproxton and Peter Lord, with Stephen Williams producing.
The creative team from The Leith Agency comprises creative director/art director Gareth Howells, copywriter Dougal Wilson, and producer Les Watt. Freelancer Mark Ryder served as music producer for the agency; Ryder also composed original music for the commercial.
Aardman in-house editor Nikk Fielden teamed with freelance cutter Mike Percival on "Pintlings," with a :40 version. The online editor was Martin "Groucho" Horseman who at the time was with Rushes, London, but has since joined London-based Morphos. Horseman additionally worked as an effects artist on the Fire at BBC Bristol. Audio mixer was James Saunders of Jungle, also a London shop.
