In an age when most of our time is spent dealing with the digital world, more and more people have convinced themselves that they don’t have any talent or inclination for handiwork. However, most of them have once been able to create amazing things with their hands, especially when they were kids. Those simple, ingenious, sometimes garish creations – puppets, clay sculptures, picture frames, collages – might even be still stashed somewhere in their attics or on top of closet cabinets, waiting to be rediscovered along with their maker’s own creative instincts.
That’s what happens in this endearingly funny, inspirational film by Lobo. It shows a host of amateurish handmade artifacts coming to life in a dusty attic, climbing out of cardboard boxes and down from shelves to deliver an important message: the person who created them is still capable of accomplishing a lot by hand, even if they forgot they once had that potential. Repainting the guest room, redoing a bathroom or at least hanging a framed picture: everyone is capable of such things, as long as they reconnect with that creative drive they once had in spades.
To emphasize the do-it-yourself message of the film, we wanted to give the animation a tactile, handmade look. That’s why we produced it with a mix of live action and CG: the environment is a real set built in our studio, while the animated characters were digitally generated, with a realistic finish that portrays the authentic textures of their materials – wool, cloth, plastic, wood etc. Those two widely diverse footage sources were then mixed together in a perfectly seamless way, with the CG elements conforming to all aspects of the live action shoot, such as lighting, film stock and camera moves.
Unfortunately, this film was never aired. It was part of a campaign that was suspended by the client before launch, Nonetheless, we were so captivated by its adorable cast of characters and its positive message – not to mention proud of our technical accomplishment – that we decided to publish it ourselves (without the original branding, of course), in hopes that it might inspire a wider audience to reconnect with their resourceful side.
