Bankers’ Puppet Theatre
About the Project
When Henderson Bas, the acclaimed Toronto-based Interactive Design agency, was tasked with creating a series of online commercials for Capital One, which featured bankers attempting to trick customers into paying higher fees through elaborate puppet shows (to be thwarted every time by a handyman who would tell the audience of the much better deals available through Capital One), Hoggworks Studios was called in to create the three puppets to be used in the commercials.
We worked directly with Henderson Bas, offering our expertise to create whimsical, high-quality puppets, first refining the designs over a series of iterations, and then building three puppets, two of whom would undergo a series of outfit changes over the course of the commercials. Hoggworks provided the puppets on time, and the clients – both Henderson Bas and Capital One – were thrilled by the look AND construction of the puppets. The puppets performed admirably, standing up under substantial abuse during the filming of the commercials, not just from the wonderful puppeteers (including our own Brian Hogg) who performed the characters, but also by the actors playing the bankers in the commercial, who were a fair bit rougher than the pros were. Despite a make-out scene that might’ve caused other puppets to buckle, ours escaped unscathed.
Hoggworks, Henderson Bas, and Capital One were all quite happy with how the puppets, and the project, turned out.
What we Did
Hoggworks designed and built all three puppets used in the videos. The larger monster puppet is a live-hands puppet, with the two smaller puppets being rod puppets, both of whom wear multiple outfits throughout the video piece.
Credits
Hoggworks designed and built the three puppets featured in the Bankers’ Puppet Theatre. Two of the puppets were built with a variety of different outfits, in order for them to play different characters.
Hoggworks built the puppets on a tight timeline, and they were wonderfully received, and, as an added bonus, stood up mightily to 16 hours of constant use and abuse. We’re proud of how it turned out.