Aardman animations make the Duracell Bunny go all Les Parkour for Ogilvy, Paris. Directed by Luis Cook.

The agency«s request for a guerilla-style look immediately put Cook and his team in mind of the hardscrabble Bristol neighborhoods that surround Aardman headquarters. Over three days, and in spite of some seriously adverse weather patterns, the Aardman team shot intentionally wobbly, handheld footage over the Bristol rooftops. Cook took the unusual step of using shots of the urban landscape to create a storyboard. Only after shooting the live footage did Cook put his mind towards the seamless addition of the pink, furry bunny.

"Our process was a little risky, but it ended up working out well," he says. "We shot lots of DV footage when we weren«t waiting around for the rain to stop. We performed some careful and precise tracking on the live footage before creating our CG bunny. We then rotoscoped the CG animations into the scene. Without the background plates, the footage looked like pure insanity, but once were able to add the bunny in there, things looked much more logical, if still completely frenetic."

After adding the animated pink bunny to the gritty urban landscape, the Aardman team went about adding realistic reflections in puddles and adding live action splashes from their location shoot.

"We're proud of this spot," admits Cook. "The edit is nice and sharp with lots of energy, and the jump cutting feeds into what can only be described as the unattractive aesthetic of the location. We performed all of our CG work in Autodesk Maya. Everyone is very pleased with the results."

Agency: Ogilvy and Mather
40, avenue George V
75008, Paris

Producer: Catia Di Giambattista
Creatives: Steve Jeffrey
Ginevra Capece
Fergus O’Hare

Client: Proctor and Gamble

AARDMAN

Director: Luis Cook
Producer: Helen Argo
Production Manager: Stephanie Owen
Production Assistant: Louise Johnson

Live Action Shoot

DOP: Peter James
1st AD: Sam Le Page
Focus Puller: Graeme Campbell
Camera Assistant: Jeremy Arthur
Grip: Jim Boorer
Electrician: Nat Sale
Set Dresser 1: Damien Neary
Set Dresser 2: Johnny Tate
Runner: Richard Bowen
Location Manager: Tim Faulkener

PRODUCTION

Editor: Dan Williamson
Production/Floor Manager: Gail Kirkbride
Stephanie Owen
Model-Making: Cat and Gary @ Scarycat Studios
Set Build: Damian Neary
Puppet Rigger: Nick Herbert
DOP: Jeremy Hogg
Camera Assistant: James Fisher
Sparks: Nathan Sale
Guy Holme
Animator 1: Seamus Malone
Animator 2: Julia Peguet
CGI Technical Director/Compositor: Tim Brade
Rig Removal/Compositor: Will Studd
Addditional Compositors: Tessa Mapp Ben Toogood
Stills Photographer: Mark Chamberlain
Making Of Film: Ben Dowden
Post Production Facility Houses: Rushes Post Production Films @ 59