Duracell - Skywalker - (2008) :30 (France)

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 neighbourhoods 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