Soho 601 take comfort from Aardman

Soho 601 have completed postproduction on the first fully CGI 'Darren and Lisa' Comfort commercial, which has been created by Aardman Animations and replaces the traditional stop frame animated characters that have gone before.
The film opens up on Darren and Lisa tied precariously to a conveyor belt hung over a chasm, which is taking them towards a washing machine that has the potential of making them all saggy and stretched. Darren saves the day by dragging a bottle of Comfort into the washing machine with a 007-style gadget, so they come out 'in great shape'. Darren is Lisa¹s hero once again. Unfortunately, as Darren goes to kiss her, we dissolve through to him in bed kissing his teddy bear and we realise it is all a dream.
Sam Fell, Director says: "Changing format from stop frame model animation and going with the CGI route was very liberating for the spot. We were able to make an enormous set and escape the limitations you have with stop frame, giving the spot an epic feel. CG also gave us greater flexibility with the characters mouths and expressions, which was another advantage. The biggest challenge posed to the Aardman CG department was the technical aspect of exactly reproducing the intricate Darren and Lisa puppets but retaining the 'clothiness' feel. This has been an extremely rewarding job to work on."
Des Anwar, Infinity Operator says: "The animation was supplied as separate layers without depth of field or film grain to give us maximum creative freedom, which ultimately enabled us to get precisely what Sam wanted in the final composite."
(GB)