Last month I finished directing a 30 second tv commercial for Playstation's Little Big Planet on the PSP. An animated extravaganza combining lots of different techniques - pixellation, stop-motion, and CGI animation - all condensed into a short space of time.
The initial idea for the commercial from Mike Hughes at LOVE creative, was to take the hand-crafted feel of the game with all its amazing textures and materials and combine this with a very fresh, and modern approach to the visuals.
The main character Sackboy is really fun, cute and cool. Just like on the PS3 you can change his outfits and put him in various different moods as you play. This facility for customization means that he appeals to an extremely wide range of people, across different age groups. I wanted to use his charm and personality to full effect in this ad. He is cheeky, energetic and inquisitive and I pushed this in his body language and actions. There is also I hope an injection of humour and cool in the ad which mirrors the feeling of the game itself.
And by the way, if you haven't played the game - get out there and try it! I have to confess that a few of us, in the crew, were either already hooked or became a little hooked on the game during production. I hold my hands up as one of the latter. The others of you - you know who you are!
The commercial aired for the first time on Wednesday the 18th November. But you can also see it on the Slinky website. Just click on the link top right (of my blog page).
Take a look!
2 comments:
Rebecca, that's great, I love LBP (played it loads with my girlfriend)! I take it Sackboy was CG and the rest mostly in camera, it's really nice and I look forward to seeing it on tv. Hope you're well, got more stuff lined up? Chris
Ahh thanks Chris. It is a cool game I agree, and Sackboy is a very lovable character. Yes he was CG and the rest was very much in camera! It was such a nightmare because of course it's POV so the camera was supposed to BE poor Andy and he had to contort around it whilst we animated his hands - very tricky stuff. But I think it looks effortless in the final thing, so that's a good result.
I'm fine. I've been v busy since LBP directing a little title sequence and in program stings for a new tv program, and doing a little bit of animation for Suzanne Deakin at Slinky on one of her commercials for the States (she's been doing a series of three). So now it's time for a little break!
Hope you are ok?
R
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