Snickers bring back the Gremlins - no CG required

By Creative Bloq Staff
( Computer Arts )
published

Who needs CG? Artem built an actual gremlin to give an authentic feel to this ad for Snickers.

When French advertising agency CLM BBDO needed a gremlin for its new Snickers TV commercial, the obvious solution would have been to go for the CG option.

Instead Artem, an award-winning physical special effects company, was called in and its technicians went to work on creating a sophisticated and lifelike animatronic hand puppet. The gremlin had a moving body, head, arms, hands, eyes, mouth, ears, and brows, and it took three people to operate - Artem even brought in a specialist puppeteer to bring life to the performance.

Gremlins

The result is an authentic recreation of the gremlins in Steven Spielberg's 1984 movie; it might not have the slick movement that you’d expect from a fully CG solution, but it makes a much better job of reflecting the spirit of Spielberg's puppet-packed classic.

Says the commercial's director, Gary Freedman, "Artem nailed the authentic look and the performance was spot on - he was an angry little shit!"

All right, there's a bit of CG going on, but only to conceal the team of puppeteers.

All right, there's a bit of CG going on, but only to conceal the team of puppeteers.

Words: Jim McCauley

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Creative Bloq Staff

The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of design fans, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Deals Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Digital Arts and Design Editor Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson and Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The 3D World and ImagineFX magazine teams also pitch in, ensuring that content from 3D World and ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq. 

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