ITV
2008
And I'll have ham and caviar...
ITV's take on Spitting Image style satirical comedy, with CGI replacing puppetry, only lasted one season but the broadcaster was betting big on Headcases in the run-up to release. My brief was to bring to life some of the characters featured in the pilot episode by using the original assets from the show married with a kinetic typographic treatment. There were to be two executions - MPU units based on short skits of the two Princes, William and Harry, and David and Victoria Beckham.
The creative revolved around a build that enabled the user to view a short video clip of the programme if they clicked on the MPU, or a lively animation summarising the scene in a strong typographic treatment should the unit not be interacted with. Of course, my own pride in my work meant I wanted people to refrain from clicking, which is directly at odds with what the client wanted to achieve!
I created two MPU units, one caricaturing Victoria Beckham and the other the two Princes. The typefaces and graphical treatments were laid out in Photoshop prior to animating in Flash, where lots of extra embellishments were added. There is even a shatter effect rendered out from AfterEffects to enhance the impact of Victoria Beckham's ear-piercing singing voice.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable project to work on. My only regret? That ITV's designers didn't come up with a better-looking logo so that my endframes weren't compromised!
