Chel White
Director, Bent Image Lab, Portland
On: Animating a Live-Action Classic for OfficeMax
F&V: What made DDB Chicago decide to animate a successful live-action campaign with "Santa’s Helper?"
I believe it was because they saw the parody we did for Saturday Night Live three years ago called "The Narrator That Ruined Christmas." Made two months after September 11th, 2001, it’s a satire of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. In it, the Burl Ives Snowman gets bent out of shape because the spotlight is now on the tragedy instead of him at Christmastime. There is something about animation in general that seems to play especially well in the holiday season.The whole idea of translating the live-action spots to animation was a brilliant move on the part of the DDB guys.
F&V: What were the key challenges in translating a successful live-action portrayal into a stop-motion animated character?
You have to really understand both worlds – live-action and animation. The most challenging part was capturing the likeness and personality of the main character while still keeping the design inherently simple. In the live-action ads, the lead role is portrayed by actor Eddie Steeples. He has great expressiveness and comic timing. For our animated OfficeMax ad, we shot video reference footage of Eddie going through the various scenes. The animators studied these live reference scenes before shooting their animated scenes. Just like the actors, I think of animators as performers. They understand what can and cannot work in the puppet world.
F&V: Why clay?
The figures are actually made of urethane and latex. The urethane is used for the heads of the puppets, where a hard, wood-like substance is desired, and the arms and legs of the puppets are a flexible latex. Clay does come into the picture at the very beginning where the sculptor uses it to create the initial character heads and limbs. The clay then gets used to make a mold and cast the puppets in urethane and latex.
F&V: What are the greatest hits of '60s and '70s animation that you are channeling here?
Ever since I was in grade school, I was intrigued with some of the holiday stop-motion animation of the '60s. There was one piece in particular, a black-and-white short called "Suzy Snowflake," that I just fell in love with. I saw it in re-runs on one of those Captain Kangaroo-style shows in Chicago. Then of course there were longer pieces such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, Ray Harryhausen’s Hansel and Gretel and the work of Czech animator Jiri Trnka. But we weren’t trying to be literal in replicating any one movie, more carrying over a general vibe that felt vintage.