SNAPSHOT
Communications company NET wanted to show how making new connections helps you get out of a funk. They wanted to emphasize their social work as part of the company’s ethos. They proposed a new take on a classic tale. We used a blend of filmed puppetry to give a natural furry feel to the commercial and CG animation to get the expressive precision of the faces and limbs.We had great fun creating this interpretation of the Ugly Duckling. We threw our furry friend into the worst emotional situations for our greatest viewing pleasure. The poor thing gets rejected from friends and family. He goes on a journey of discovery to find new friends and in the process discovers the pleasure of helping others and spreading love. He can finally find his way back into his family … maybe for the cycle to start all over again. (synopsis via Laughing Squid)
“The Ugly Duckling” is an evergreen cautionary tale about misjudging someone else simply they don’t fit your idea of what is normal and proper.
It’s heartbreaking and infuriating at times as you realise how small minded and predujiced people can be but in the end it is gloriously uplifting as the titular character discovers that not only do they have somewhere they perfectly belong but that their new state of acceptance has a transformative effect on those who used to mock them.
This beautiful tale, whose truths are still very much needed in today’s polarised world where a little love and understanding wouldn’t go astray, has been given new life by Brazilian communications company NET, using a fresh new version of Nina Simone‘s song “Ain’t Got No, I Got Life” from the musical Hair.
It’s a whimsical mix of CGI and puppetry that reaffirms all over again how beautiful and important a tale this, and how in a world far too predisposed to judge and mock, it will always relevant as the day Hands Christian Andersen published it in 1843.
(source: Laughing Squid)