‘Full House’ star teams up with Charlie the Tuna

Starkist-Calabash-Full-House-Bure (1)

Chicago-based animation shop Calabash has teamed up with Harrisburg, PA-based AOR for Starkist Tuna, Quench, to create two new fun animated spots starring Candace Cameron Bure. If you’re not familiar with the talented actress, shame on you. Actually I wasn’t, but a whole lot of Full House (now Fuller House on Netflix) were.

Looking to go “bolder,” the new ads spotlight the Pittsburgh-based brand’s spicy new line of Tuna Creations BOLD and Chicken Creations™ single-serve pouches. The agency once again went with Calabash, who is perhaps best known for their creative character animation and development of some of America’s most beloved brand icons.

In addition to the company’s advertising work, Calabash has also produced several acclaimed short films, including Stubble Trouble, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Similar to last year’s campaign, the setting of both spots are the set of one of Bure’s TV projects where Charlie literally drops in, dangling causally from a fisherman’s hook naturally, to inform her of Starkist’s latest creations.

The first spot, titled “Tuna Creations BOLD,” finds Bure filming an action sequence, dressed in a red superhero jumpsuit. When the off-screen voice of the director is heard asking Bure for a ‘bolder’ performance, Charlie seizes the moment to tell her about the Tuna Creations line of bold flavors such as Jalapeño. Watch the spot below directed by Cornerstone Pictures’ Peter Siaggas:

“Mixing live action with animation creates a challenge that’s both creative and technical,” John Gilbert, Quench’s Group Creative Director said. He added, “Calabash is not just involved, they’re right there in the room with us, responsive at every step starting early in the process, helping us avoid obstacles and even helping advise our client on executional details. Sean, Wayne and their incredibly talented team make Charlie the Tuna the larger-than-life character he deserves to be.”

In the second spot, entitled “Chicken Creations,” we see Bure between scenes on a living room set in a bright yellow dress reacting excitedly to Charlie’s news about their new Chicken Creations line.

“Both spots needed the animated Charlie integrated into the live action environment with a believable interaction between Charlie and Candace,” Wayne Brejcha, Calabash’s Creative Director said. “Playing off of Candace’s warmth and energy, Charlie’s performance came together very naturally.”

ALSO READ: David&Goliath named creative AOR for Chicken of the Sea

Perfect Integration

For the project, Calabash EP, Sean Henry, attended the shoot in Los Angeles to work closely with Director Peter Siaggas to insure the live action and animation would integrate perfectly in post.

“The spots are very tongue-in-cheek and don’t take themselves too seriously,” Henry says. “’Bold’ was shot entirely against green screen with most of the environment being fabricated in post. Candace was a great sport and a real pro when it came to maintaining eye lines and acting against an imaginary co-star. Peter gave us great material to work with, in both the beautifully-composed shots and the performances from Candace.”

Brejcha adds that because Charlie’s style straddles the worlds of 3D and 2D, it remains a creative and technical challenge to get the CG model to look like it belongs in the real world.

“There’s no way to treat our Charlie CG model like a conventional, straightforward stop-motion puppet — the artists have to distort his shapes to match our guide sketches,” he says. “It looks good from the camera’s point of view. Always a great challenge, but very rewarding when we pull it off.”

The spots have a warm appeal to them and are animated nicely. Both should bring smiles to Bure’s fans easily.

 
Credits
Client – Starkist

Agency: Quench, Harrisburg, PA
   Group Creative Director: John Gilbert

Production Company: Cornerstone Pictures, Haverford, PA
   Director: Peter Siaggas
   Executive Producer: Bill German

Animation/VFX: Calabash, Chicago, IL
   Creative Director: Wayne Brejcha
   Executive Producer: Sean Henry

Source: Calabash Animation

 
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello10.

Starkist-Calabash-Full-House-Bure (1)

Chicago-based animation shop Calabash has teamed up with Harrisburg, PA-based AOR for Starkist Tuna, Quench, to create two new fun animated spots starring Candace Cameron Bure. If you’re not familiar with the talented actress, shame on you. Actually I wasn’t, but a whole lot of Full House (now Fuller House on Netflix) were.

Looking to go “bolder,” the new ads spotlight the Pittsburgh-based brand’s spicy new line of Tuna Creations BOLD and Chicken Creations™ single-serve pouches. The agency once again went with Calabash, who is perhaps best known for their creative character animation and development of some of America’s most beloved brand icons.

In addition to the company’s advertising work, Calabash has also produced several acclaimed short films, including Stubble Trouble, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Similar to last year’s campaign, the setting of both spots are the set of one of Bure’s TV projects where Charlie literally drops in, dangling causally from a fisherman’s hook naturally, to inform her of Starkist’s latest creations.

The first spot, titled “Tuna Creations BOLD,” finds Bure filming an action sequence, dressed in a red superhero jumpsuit. When the off-screen voice of the director is heard asking Bure for a ‘bolder’ performance, Charlie seizes the moment to tell her about the Tuna Creations line of bold flavors such as Jalapeño. Watch the spot below directed by Cornerstone Pictures’ Peter Siaggas:

“Mixing live action with animation creates a challenge that’s both creative and technical,” John Gilbert, Quench’s Group Creative Director said. He added, “Calabash is not just involved, they’re right there in the room with us, responsive at every step starting early in the process, helping us avoid obstacles and even helping advise our client on executional details. Sean, Wayne and their incredibly talented team make Charlie the Tuna the larger-than-life character he deserves to be.”

In the second spot, entitled “Chicken Creations,” we see Bure between scenes on a living room set in a bright yellow dress reacting excitedly to Charlie’s news about their new Chicken Creations line.

“Both spots needed the animated Charlie integrated into the live action environment with a believable interaction between Charlie and Candace,” Wayne Brejcha, Calabash’s Creative Director said. “Playing off of Candace’s warmth and energy, Charlie’s performance came together very naturally.”

ALSO READ: David&Goliath named creative AOR for Chicken of the Sea

Perfect Integration

For the project, Calabash EP, Sean Henry, attended the shoot in Los Angeles to work closely with Director Peter Siaggas to insure the live action and animation would integrate perfectly in post.

“The spots are very tongue-in-cheek and don’t take themselves too seriously,” Henry says. “’Bold’ was shot entirely against green screen with most of the environment being fabricated in post. Candace was a great sport and a real pro when it came to maintaining eye lines and acting against an imaginary co-star. Peter gave us great material to work with, in both the beautifully-composed shots and the performances from Candace.”

Brejcha adds that because Charlie’s style straddles the worlds of 3D and 2D, it remains a creative and technical challenge to get the CG model to look like it belongs in the real world.

“There’s no way to treat our Charlie CG model like a conventional, straightforward stop-motion puppet — the artists have to distort his shapes to match our guide sketches,” he says. “It looks good from the camera’s point of view. Always a great challenge, but very rewarding when we pull it off.”

The spots have a warm appeal to them and are animated nicely. Both should bring smiles to Bure’s fans easily.

 
Credits
Client – Starkist

Agency: Quench, Harrisburg, PA
   Group Creative Director: John Gilbert

Production Company: Cornerstone Pictures, Haverford, PA
   Director: Peter Siaggas
   Executive Producer: Bill German

Animation/VFX: Calabash, Chicago, IL
   Creative Director: Wayne Brejcha
   Executive Producer: Sean Henry

Source: Calabash Animation

 
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello10.