Nutty Reindeer - Postings - Planters' advertising spot uses Skyler Animation's reindeer puppets - Brief Article

Post, Jan, 2003

PORTLAND--Reindeers tick off Santa Claus by eating Fall of his Planters nuts in the spot Reindeer Games through Foote Cone & Belding. The ad combines live-action, stop-motion animation and CG. The spot opens with live-action footage, directed by Steve Chase of Reactor Films, of Santa and Mrs. Claus discovering an empty can of nuts and immediately thinking of the reindeer. It then cuts to stop-motion footage of a raucous party with reindeer drinking, dancing and eating nuts. One reindeer stands out from the crowd with a top hat and monocle, impersonating Planters' signature character, Mr. Peanut.

Skyler Animation (www.skyleranimation.com), here, created and animated nearly two-dozen reindeer puppets with clay heads with sculpted expressions, foam bodies and movable limbs, as well as individual festive costumes for each puppet. The dance sequence was shot in multiple passes using a combination of Kuper and proprietary software. After the stop-motion shoot was complete, additional CG details, like the spinning Planters can, and lighting were added using Alias/Wavefront Maya. Mission Control in Portland edited this section and the final conform was done at NYC-based Rhinoceros.