Year: 2009

Happy Hour produce Park Christmas savings DRTV campaign

Posted in: DRTV

Bristol based TV commercial production company, Happy Hour Productions, has created a direct response TV campaign for savings club Park Christmas Savings.

Directed by Scott Pleydell-Pearce and starring actress Claire Sweeney, the DRTV campaign was shot over three days and took ten weeks to produce. The ads will run until February 2010 to promote the benefits for saving for Christmas 2010, now.

Tom George, executive producer for Happy Hour, said: “It was an exciting set of DRTV commercials to work on and allowed us to combine our CGI animation and live action experience working alongside Claire Sweeney and Park’s animated fairy character. Park Christmas Savings has firmly established itself as the number one Christmas savings club, and we were delighted to be given the opportunity to produce these direct response tv commercials for them.”

Happy Hour brings in Fantastic Mr Fox AD Kev Harwood

Posted in: Team News

Bristol based film, video and animation production company Happy Hour Productions has announced that Kev Harwood, assistant director of Fantastic Mr Fox, has rejoined as animation producer.

Harwood previously worked as production manager and then assistant director at Aardman Animations before joining Happy Hour in 2007.

He was then approached by Wes Anderson, director of Fantastic Mr Fox to join him on the project as first assistant director where he was responsible for the co-ordination of us to 35 animation units at a time and oversee the running of production.

Harwood commented: “I’m very happy to be rejoining Happy Hour – a company I’ve always enjoyed working for. I’m looking forward to bringing the ideas and experiences I learnt from Wes Anderson back to Happy Hour and applying these to the company’s clients. Happy Hour’s reputation continues to grow within the industry and it’s a great time to be back onboard.”

Meanwhile, the company has also appointed Scott Pleydell-Pearce to its team of directors, having also worked at Aardman where he eventually became co-head of the CGI department during nine years there.

He is currently working on a number of projects for Happy Hour including directing a series of commercials for the firm’s Park Christmas Savings and High Street Vouchers direct response TV campaigns.

Happy Hour brings Christmas cheer to Park Christmas Savings

Posted in: DRTV

Park Christmas Savings selects Happy Hour to shoot and produce Christmas ad

We’re thrilled to announce that we have won a contract with Park Christmas Savings – the number one Christmas savings club – to produce their latest series of direct response TV ads staring Claire Sweeney and Wanda, the Park Fairy. The adverts, which were shot over three days and took ten weeks to produce, explain the benefits of saving for next Christmas to viewers.

The Christmas ad campaign, which runs until February 2010, was directed by Scott Pleydell-Pearce, the ex-head of Aardman’s animation department. Scott also designed the cartoon characters which appeared in the adverts. Others involved included Tom George as producer, and Kev Harwood, who served as 1^st assistant director on the recent hit film, Fantastic Mr. Fox. For Park Christmas Savings, Harwood provided 1^st assistant duties on the shoot.

Tom George, Happy Hour executive producer, said:
“We thoroughly enjoyed working on these series of adverts for Park Christmas Savings. It was an exciting set of commercials to work on and allowed us to combine our CGI animation and live action experience working alongside Claire Sweeney and Park’s animated fairy character. Park Christmas Savings has firmly established itself as the number one Christmas savings club, and we were delighted to be given the opportunity to produce these direct response commercials for them.”

Mark Lucius, marketing director, Park Christmas Savings, said:
“We were impressed with Happy Hour’s grasp of what we were trying to do and their innovative approach to producing quality commercials, using both animation and live action. Happy Hour demonstrated the ability to balance creativity and functionality, which we are confident will generate great results and ensure that more people start saving earlier for Christmas with Park Christmas Savings.”

If you are thinking of advertising on TV and would like to know more about how we can help, call us on 0117 929 9797 or get in touch here.

Happy Hour Productions strengthens its CGI team

Posted in: Animation, Team News

Scott Pleydell-Pearce joins Happy Hour’s roster of directors

We’re excited to announce that Scott Pleydell-Pearce has joined our team of directors bringing with him over 21 years experience in animation and CGI.

Scott’s career spans many areas including feature films, games, commercials and broadcast. Having trained as a traditional 2D animator, his background in 2D served him well as he diversified into the world of CGI. Scott spent 9 years at Aardman animations, where he helped develop and eventually became co-head of the CGI department, whilst all the time working as a senior animator and commercials director. Scott has won a British Television Craft Advertising Award (Gold Arrow) for Robinsons ‘Boogie’ (best computer animation 2004).

Scott is currently embarking on a number of projects for Happy Hour including directing a series of commercials for the firm’s Park Christmas Savings and High Street Vouchers direct response TV campaigns.

Scott Pleydell-Pearce said:
“I’m excited to be joining Happy Hour at such an exciting stage of the company’s growth. Over the years Happy Hour has gathered a really talented bunch of people and I’m looking forward to applying my skills and creativity to Happy Hour’s roster of agency and commercial clients.”

Tom George, Happy Hour Producer, said:
“Scott has very strong credentials in the animation industry and we’re confident that his experience will contribute significantly to our CGI work and expand our huge range of creative talent. We’re all very excited to have him onboard.”