The Character Shop: Time-Warner "Annoying Fees"

Recently, we created a motley crew of animated, puppeteered, walking, hopping, "Annoying Fees" for a Time Warner Cable ad. The concept is that Time Warners' competitors have these pesky little bills that just keep cropping up underfoot and bumming out your day. They begin by hopping out of a customer's envelope and then moshing on her desk. They then leap off onto the floor and scatter through the house, playing hide and seek until she corners them and "Ohh-cools" them

We began by creating many. many color-corrected and approved faces and backs for the bills. We double and triple adhered them onto support rods and structures. We then experimented with the best method for delivering a performance, by constructing different internal support schemes and rod puppeting or marionetting them. Each change to the location or numbers of pick points resulted in different type of movement. Through video testing, we started to create characters from these simple puppets, with some being more confident, jaunty, intimidating, jittery, or clumsy than others.

On set, a team of three puppeteers would handle one or two at a time, utilizing green-screen backgrounds and locked-off cameras. The puppeteers and supporting rods were erased, and the little buggers looked as if they were right there in the scene.

This is a great example of how TCS can create an animated character out of even the most mundane, inanimate object, using simple but skillfull puppeteering techniques, and bring it to life!

We're waiting for a copy of the spot, but until then, enjoy the Annoying Fee's "Audition Tape"!