Creating a TV advert is always a challenge—but making a handcrafted, stop-motion animated commercial in just one month? That’s the kind of creative adventure we live for at Hubspoke Media. Here’s how we brought Darlington College’s vision to life, one felt puppet and frame at a time. Check out the video below to see more of the full process!
The Brief: A Unique Vision from Darlington College
It all started with a meeting. Darlington College approached us with a bold idea: they wanted an animated advert inspired by felt-based cooking videos—something playful, handmade, and full of charm. The goal? To showcase the college’s international trips in a way that hadn’t been done before.
Story First: Crafting the Narrative
Before any animation could begin, we needed a story. We collaborated with the college’s marketing team to agree on the locations and storyline. Once the narrative was locked in, we sketched out a storyboard—not too detailed, but enough to capture the action, camera movement, and pacing. We scanned our storyboards into Premiere Pro and created an animatic using placeholder voiceovers, music, and sound effects. This helped us nail the timing for each scene and ensure everything fit within the 32-second window.
Building DC: Designing Our Star Puppet
Meet DC—our tiny felted hero. We designed him to be simple and relatable, avoiding any specific characteristics so anyone could connect with him. From wire armature to sponge padding and felt, every part of DC was handmade.
Stop-Motion in Action: Shooting the Advert
With DC ready, we built a small green screen set and filmed using Dragonframe 4, a stop-motion software used by companies such as Aardman Animations. We used magnets and rigs to keep DC upright and even filmed live-action reference videos to guide his movements. Every second of animation required 24 individual frames, meticulously posed and captured.
Digitising the Handmade: Mixing Media in After Effects
Although everything was handcrafted, we digitised each element in Photoshop and After Effects. This gave us more control over colours, layers, and camera movement. We built a 3D stage in After Effects, layering in props like planes, banners, and even a space invader.
The Final Touches: Editing, Compositing, and Sound
The final stages involved removing the rig frame by frame, colour correcting DC to match live-action footage, and adjusting audio levels. All of this led to the final advert that you see on TV!
The Big Reveal: Showing It to the Client
After weeks of hard work, we presented the finished advert to Darlington College. The response? Smiles all around. DC made his TV debut on Sky, and we couldn’t be prouder of the result.
Final Thoughts: Why We Love Animation
This project reminded us why we love animation. It’s creative, hands-on, and full of storytelling potential. Whether it’s stop-motion, 2D, or vector animation, we’re always excited to bring ideas to life. Thinking of creating your own animated advert? Let’s chat. We’d love to help you tell your story.