Director Jack Cunningham of Nexus Studios directed this stop motion film for startup energy company Hometree out of U.K. agency SNAP LDN.
Titled “Bath Time with the Field Family,” the first U.K. TV spot for Hometree features a family of mice living in a tree home created by master puppet and modelmaker Andy Gent’s studio (Isle of Dogs, Fantastic Mr. Fox). We see the parents drawing a bath for playtime in the tub for their adorable litle tyke.
Cunningham said, “The biggest creative challenge for me was developing the anthropomorphized world in a way that hasn’t been done before. I took the ‘old fashioned’ stop motion way to reduce the postproduction process and capture as much on camera as possible.”
Credits
Client Hometree Agency SNAP LDN Dave Beattie, creative director; Vanessa Butcher, producer. Production Nexus Studios, London Jack Cunningham, director; Jo Bierton, producer; Connie Black, production manager; Joao Rema, lead/supervisor; Laurie Rollit, environment design; James Hatley, storyboard artworking; Malcolm Hadley, DP; Toby Goodyear, camera assistant; Max Halstead, moco; Andy Gent, Collette Pidgeon, Mick Chippington, Vaida Klimaviciute, Andrew Sanders, Mitch Barnes, Ciara McClean, Jade Gerrard, Carlos Padilla, Richard Blakey, Maggie Haden, Nadine Patterson, Magda Madra, Annick Bossom, Laura Treen, Angela Pang, Ola Kucharska, Stefano Cordioli, Daniel Miller. Tobias Fouracre, stop motion animators; Anna Malin Mantzaris, assistant animator; Felix Massie, 2D animation; Michael Firkowski, 3D animation; Joao Rema, Antoine Foulot, compositing. (Toolbox: Photoshop, Dragonframe, Maya, Nuke, After Effects) Music Soho Music Sound Design & Mix Jungle
Continuing their partnership to combat the mental health crisis among America’s youth, the Ad Council and McCann New York have released the latest installment of the “Sound It Out” campaign which focuses on helping parents and caregivers have meaningful conversations with their kids about emotional wellbeing.
The new work, “Listening is a Form of Love,” focuses on the important role parents and caregivers play in supporting young people’s emotional wellbeing and is supported by new data from Surgo Health’s Youth Mental Health Tracker. The survey highlights that: 55% of youth (ages 10-24) report mental health struggles; and one in five youth report symptoms of depression, and one in four report symptoms of anxiety.
The film includes an interactive digital experience that invites parents to practice “holding space” by pressing the space bar to listen to kids sharing what they wish their parents could hear, in their own words. Along with this literal interpretation of the active listening the campaign encourages, the website also gives valuable tools to help parents and caregivers be better listeners, and in turn, better support their kids.
There is also this 60-second PSA--directed by Alex Fischman Cardenas via Greenpoint Pictures--which underscores the power and importance of listening to your loved ones.
