Ben and Jerry's
A Little Show
To dramatically introduce its new Karamel Sutra(TM) premium flavor to European cinema, TV and online audiences, Ben & Jerry's turned to the artists at BNS. Rolling out the new premium core flavor in keeping with Ben & Jerry's signature visual style, BNS director/creative director Dennis Go and his colleagues married photo-real food imagery with a "lo-fi" homemade feel. Tapping into the mind of Woody, the brand's world famous spokeswoman, the spot primarily uses stop-motion animation to place her in wildly imaginative situations that describe the ice cream's flavors and the caramel core at its center. As Dennis explains, "Since we shot the majority of the spot in stop-motion, we had to build larger-than-scale models of ice cream that were disguised as volcanos, caves and planets so that it wouldn't melt but would still look real and appetizing. We then built a practical set for the ice cream models to live in. We didn't necessarily go completely lo-fi but they had a crafty feel that worked well with the premium brand. We also had the challenge of infusing Woody with life, as she has no facial features and only two legs. Along with all of her movements being very purposeful, I felt like this added extra charm and wit to her character." After completing their design phase, producing an animatic in Autodesk Maya and gaining client approvals, the BNS crew shot for five days on stage at London's Clapham Road Studios. Editing, additional CG enhancement and all finishing took place at the BNS studio in NYC.
Project Name: Ben and Jerry's Cores "A Little Show" :30 Debut Date: April, 2012 Media Buy: Cinema (UK, Ireland, Holland), TV (UK, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden) & Online (Holland, UK, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden) Toolset: Project was primarily live-action stop-motion captured at London's Clapham Road Studios; Autodesk Maya for pre-vis and some elements in post; Autodesk Flame for compositing, final color and finishing. Client: Ben and Jerry's Production Company: Brand New School Director / Creative Director: Dennis Go Executive Creative Director: Jonathan Notaro Cinematographer: Toby Howell Managing Director: Danny Rosenbloom Executive Producers: Devin Brook, Kayt Hall VFX Supervisor/Editor: John Williams Lead Compositor/Animator: Andy Mastrocinque Animator: Scott Balles Designers: Justin Fines, Emeric Trahand, Adam Wentworth 3D Animation: Scott Denton, Anthony Jones, Young Lee, Alec Vacura, Jeff Bryson 3D Lighting/Texturing: Scott Denton, Joseph Ibrahim, Young Lee Rotoscoping: Anna Heironymus Model Maker: Paul Baker Stop-Motion Animator: Matt Cooper Rigger: Gee Staughton Producer: Samantha Proctor Music: APM Stock "Hi-Lo Rag" Audio Post Company: Sound Lounge Engineer: Glen Landrum Asst. Engineer: Craig LoGiudice Executive Producer: Vicky Ferraro Producer: Darcy Gerbino
