Two Bristol-based creative agencies have developed a new national TV ad campaign for trade retail giant Toolstation, which first aired earlier this month.
Happy Hour Productions and Flourish collaborated on the ‘Helping Hand’ campaign, creating a TV ad featuring a floating Toolstation-branded workman’s glove. The glove acts as an unseen jobsite helper in the ad, representing the retail company’s support for traders.
To create the floating hand, filming included a hand model dressed in a full green body suit, enabling the rest of the model’s body to be removed from the final film.
Happy Hour Productions, which are based in the Picture House on Lower Park Row, said: “The post [production] process on Helping Hand went smoothly due to careful pre-production planning and screen-tests.
“Multiple prop gloves with different wrist openings were used to ensure the illusion was never broken and the VFX [Visual Effects] team insisted that our professional hand artiste was head to toe in green at all times. Much of the floating glove was brought to life with many hours of traditional rotoscoping [an animation technique].”
The 30-second commercial was directed by Michael Wright and filmed over three days in a Bristol studio. The director of photography was Alex Ryle. Media planning and buying was delivered by The Specialist Works.
