Remember the days when you used to flick through the Argos catalogue, putting an asterisk next to every single item you could ever want? This one’s for you. Or, more likely, your kids.
Before, we had catalogue shopping. Now, we have the internet. Multi-brand online retail is an outlet that continues to flourish; in a world where we all need everything right now, these businesses are the perfect solution for fast-paced shoppers looking to satisfy their needs in a single click.
Very, part of the Very Group, are one of these outlets. We made a series of idents to bring the brand to Channel 5’s preschool programming block 'Milkshake’, mixing old-school puppets with modern-day green screen techniques.
Our task was to update the existing Very sponsorship with new products - they asked for 10, we delivered 12 because, well, we love being over-achievers. These idents are 5 seconds long, they’re on from 6am, we’re dealing with preschool children - they needed to be high impact, infectious, delightful pieces of work.
Directed by Simon Lewis, the idents create a rapid portrait of everything that tiny people love - bright colours, toys and a jingle that’ll pop into your head every time you breathe. This isn’t a time to be cinematic, it’s a time to create something that will make screens across the nation explode with joy and, ultimately, make sure that the viewers head straight to Very when they’re writing their list to Santa.
After watching the previous idents (again and again), which consisted of puppets telling jokes within a set build, we tried to think of ways to improve this without losing its authentic theatre charm. We decided to keep the puppets but lose the real life set, allowing us to bring in 3D and animated elements. With a digital environment for the puppets, we would then have the flexibility to move the background, change the colours, whatever we wanted.
We shot the Very box logo, hero products and puppets against green screen at our in-house studio. Our team of animators meticulously removed the green from the background (they love it really), before building a 3D set for the real-life elements to sit inside.
You can catch our idents on Milkshake until May 2020 (the perfect way to wake up in time for Joe Wicks, right?)
Crew & Client
Client – Very
Director – Simon Lewis
Producer - Josh Boswell
Production Manager - Lindsay Cowan
Senior Coordinator - Nathan Miah
Production Assistant - Ben Bradley
D.O.P – Paul Mortlock
VT Operator – Duncan Lees
2nd AC / DIT – Jan Koblanski
Gaffer – Chris Sarginson
Spark – Kev Eley
Art Director - Pete Rodwell
Construction – Gary Kimpton
Editor – Mike Nixon
3D – Dan Jones
