Fentimans
Styled as an Edwardian seaside peepshow, Fentimans’ first TV ad introduces a myriad of kinky characters with varying Fentimans flavours as the object of their affections. The work was directed by Fern Berresford through Short Films. Post-production was handled by Rushes with grade by Simona Harrison and VFX by Jonny Hicks.
Fentimans’ first TV ad introduces a myriad of sordid Edwardian-era characters, reflecting the brand’s early-20th-century origins.
The independent agency Sell! Sell! developed the campaign, in which a series of well-to-do men and women fail to repress their lusty desires around bottles of Fentimans’ soft drinks. There is a duchess who flashes an ankle to her butler while he serves her drink, a cross-dressing judge and a policeman who likes to be tied to a bed and have Fentimans poured into his mouth by women in bloomers.
The work was directed by Fern Berresford through Short Films. Post-production was handled by Rushes with a stunning & original grade by Simona Harrison and VFX by Jonny Hicks.
Simona describes the inspiration and process of achieving the spots distinctive look, “Fern (Berresford, the director) had a very clear vision for the look of the film, referencing vintage hand painted Edwardian photographs. Originally these were produced via a method that entailed manually overpainting colour on to black-and-white prints, in an attempt to create more realistic images. We both loved the style of these hand coloured pictures, looking through the work of these original ‘colourists’ for inspiration.
As we all know, it is always easier to work on stills. The moving image is a bit more challenging.
The film was shot in colour, so I had to find a way to fake the lack of colour. We decided to pull back from the full hand painted effect, we chose instead a more subtle approach, with a more delicate blend of colours (as the brief was to make it look vintage but still modern).
The choice of colours in the palette had to be considered carefully. The art direction was crucial in achieving the look, because I needed to have a few key strong colours in the picture in order to be able to create the vintage hand painted style without the need of rotoscoping things out. In each shot I tried to create a nice balance between complementary colours, with one colour being the lead, like the pink flowers of the beginning shot and the dark green background or the peach coloured skins and the cyan walls (the policemen shot).”
The independent agency Sell! Sell! developed the campaign, in which a series of well-to-do men and women fail to repress their lusty desires around bottles of Fentimans’ soft drinks. There is a duchess who flashes an ankle to her butler while he serves her drink, a cross-dressing judge and a policeman who likes to be tied to a bed and have Fentimans poured into his mouth by women in bloomers.
The work was directed by Fern Berresford through Short Films. Post-production was handled by Rushes with a stunning & original grade by Simona Harrison and VFX by Jonny Hicks.
Simona describes the inspiration and process of achieving the spots distinctive look, “Fern (Berresford, the director) had a very clear vision for the look of the film, referencing vintage hand painted Edwardian photographs. Originally these were produced via a method that entailed manually overpainting colour on to black-and-white prints, in an attempt to create more realistic images. We both loved the style of these hand coloured pictures, looking through the work of these original ‘colourists’ for inspiration.
As we all know, it is always easier to work on stills. The moving image is a bit more challenging.
The film was shot in colour, so I had to find a way to fake the lack of colour. We decided to pull back from the full hand painted effect, we chose instead a more subtle approach, with a more delicate blend of colours (as the brief was to make it look vintage but still modern).
The choice of colours in the palette had to be considered carefully. The art direction was crucial in achieving the look, because I needed to have a few key strong colours in the picture in order to be able to create the vintage hand painted style without the need of rotoscoping things out. In each shot I tried to create a nice balance between complementary colours, with one colour being the lead, like the pink flowers of the beginning shot and the dark green background or the peach coloured skins and the cyan walls (the policemen shot).”
Product: Fentimans
Production Title: The Original Adult Soft Drink
Agency: Sell! Sell!
Producer: Fiona Plumstead
Production Company: Short Films
Director: Fern Berresford
Producer: Holly Hartley, Sara Cummings
Production Designer: Mark Denton @ Coy!
DoP: Chris Sabogal
Editor: James Rosen @ Speade
Music: Simon Bass @ Pure Soho
Rushes Team
Producer: Emma Watterson
Colourist: Simona Harrison
VFX: Jonny Hicks
