Soho 601 posts new Aardman Polo mint commercials

Soho 601 has completed postproduction on a series of commercials produced by Aardman Animations for Nestle Rowntree Polo mints, called 'Exam' and 'Tarrah'.
The commercials are set in a white, futuristic world and feature young Polo mints trying to prove to the tyrannical Creator that they either sharp or original enough to become true Polo mints.
In ‘Exam’, a class of young Polo mints are sitting the ‘Polo Citrus Sharp Exam’, the question being ‘Citrus Sharp is the most refreshing Polo. Discuss.’ One of the young mints has a mental block and can’t write a thing. In his panic, he starts to hallucinate and sees giant scribbling pens, spinning clocks and his fellow students, whizzing around him. The exam finishes and the young Polo’s paper is blank. The Creator picks it up and says disparagingly, “Not very sharp, are you.” He hits a button and a column drops from the ceiling, crushing the young mint into tiny pieces.
In “Tarrah”, the young mints have to prove that they are original enough to become an original Polo mint at the ‘Polo Original Auditions’. The Creator, who is judging the event, looks tired and bored, muttering “Pathetic”, “Not even slightly original” and “Next!” at everything he sees. Finally, one young mint chains himself up in a tank of piranhas, jumps free and into a cannon and fires himself across the room. The Creator is impressed, “How refreshing, totally original – you’ve made the grade Roland!” he says. Roland then flies into a wall and shatters into bits.
Luis Cook, Director said: "It's been great to be back on Polo and to work with the old team again. It's moved on from the old campaign - which was 1930's industrialism - to something more space age and groovy. It was good to have a character this time around - even if he did have a hole in his head!"
Rob Pizzey, Spirit Colourist says: “The telecine was split up into four separate session in order to allow Inferno work to start whilst the shoot continued. Continuity between sessions was key and I had to match grade shots from session to session. The final shots being filmed weeks later with differing light variations meaning I had to produce clean balanced images throughout.”
Des Anwar, Inferno Operator said: “Due to the short post schedule I worked on the effects shots whilst Luis was still shooting. For approval, the shots were sent uncompressed as Quicktime to Luis at Aardman. This enabled a hassle free way for Luis to see how the work was progressing while still shooting.”
(GB)