The Big Kahuna team got the chance to flex our artistic muscles when Motorola gave us full creative license to come up with something that would wow guests at the Good Charlotte performance they sponsored in 2007. We answered their request with a one-of-a-kind, internally-lit, 1.2m disco ball decorated with Motorola phones and CDs.
Hung from the ceiling of Paddington Town Hall with care, that glowing mirrorball was the shining centrepiece to the event. The value in this project was not so much in its commercial viability but its WOW factor and the contribution it made to the overall atmosphere of the event.
This behemoth of a propellor is “off-the-wall” because it didn’t scream, “CASCADE! CASCADE! CASCADE!” but still had everyone talking about, well, Cascade.
The Brief: To create a replica of an oversized propellor that would be used as the centrepiece of Cascade’s next TVC. The commercial spun the tale of Tasmanians planning to propel their chunk of Australia away from the mainland to save their delicious beer from greedy mainlanders. When we took on this project with only five days to finish, an industry compatriot of 25 years experience told us we were… well, let’s just say the word he used started with an “f” and ended with a “d”.
Ignoring the doubters and in true Big Kahuna fashion, we rose to the challenge and pulled off the project to an impeccable standard. The best part? Being able to stand in front of this propellor with its artistically-rendered exterior and let the visual deception convince you that it has survived five decades of hard service on the seas instead of five days in the Big Kahuna workshop.
This project was high-risk because so much had to be left to the last minute. The South Korean shipbuilding company STX asked Big Kahuna to create a scale model of an ice sheet that would realistically crush and break apart as a replica of an icebreaker ship forced its way through it.
With no opportunity for a trial run, the one-day shoot was pressure enough. But, of course, it kicked up a few thousand notches when on the day the motor propelling the ship wasn’t powerful enough to trigger the separation of the faux-ice jigsaw we had created. We sourced and couriered motor after motor until we eventually found and installed the one that worked. When we finally got that perfect shot, the room full of 40 over-excited Koreans erupted in what we could only assume was a cacophony of delight.
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Big Kahuna Imagineering continues to work hard on the Bankwest ads with almost too-hot-to-handle agency Hostville and production company Plaza Films. In Bankwest’s post-GFC splurge on TVCs with fellow puppeteer and witty director Paul Middleditch, BKI was called upon to create a three-dimensional puppet referencing the well-known ‘Sun’ character for the continuing Happy Banking Campaign.
Previously computer animated, Big Kahuna wanted to give the ‘Sun’ puppet features that would allow it to interact with actors face-to-face. So, we designed and built custom mechanisms that make the mouth move asymmetrically, sunbeams wiggle and eyebrows arch independently or together. It’s all of these expressive nuances that brought a level of realism to the set offering greater viewer affinity for the character.
And while we’re on the Bankwest subject, here’s a look at all of the Happy Banking characters that BKI has been involved in puppeteering.
Big Kahuna custom built the original ‘Goldfish’ and ‘Grass Head’ puppets. As to ‘Flower’, ‘Dog’ and ‘Teddy’; we disassembled the original model of each and inserted the required animatronics such that they could act and be animated live on set. We then went behind the scenes on the set of the Bankwest commercials to manipulate and sync the characters’ movements with the live audio playback.
