Partnering with Thumbtack, the home services provider, Practice were approached with a “simple” ask - to create a sock puppet character that homeowner audiences can relate to, and create a series of social-first content that doesn’t have the traditional advertising feel.
Bringing to the project their whimsical and tactile creative approach, Practice set about bringing 'Socky' to life. Taking on the challenge of crafting a visual story that homeowners can relate to, Practice designed two narratives that show classic home issues with humour and lightness, marrying the aims of the brief with their ability to create considered content.
The result is a joyful and creative social-forward campaign grounded in the combination of practical and 3D effects.
The first step in their process of bringing Socky to life was to decide what kind of sock puppet he is. Plain white tube sock, striped, coloured toe, etc all serve to craft different personalities for the main character. While Socky doesn’t talk within the spots, he did need to have the ability to form recognisable expressions and characterisations.
It was important to Thumbtack for Socky to look like a sock puppet, and not a muppet. Resulting in a lo-fi, not overly crafted design, but at the same time able to have exaggerated facial movements and heaps of personality. After trying various sock materials Practice settled on a wool sock with a white heel/toe combination that gives Socky a resemblance of a face to ensure stand-out characterisation. Next the eyes - foam, ping pong, googly, and half sphere were all tried to create the perfect fit.
Practice's approach to building the set was to work with practical elements - buckets, boxes of junk - in the foreground, and create a 3D set for the background. This allowed Practice to improvise and change the background if needed, but also keep the practical look that was so important to Thumbtack to carry across the videos.
Once the 3D backgrounds had been designed, Practice formed a breakdown of how the various layers of the composition would come together to form the final scenes. Often opting to jump right into previs vs pencil sketches, Practice are able to quickly experiment with different compositions and speed up the process asa whole. Once the background has been designed, Practice fill in the elements that make up the composition and how Socky will interact within the space, setting the scene for the film as a whole and allowing Practice to move forward into adding the practical elements of the shoot.
For the stage set up, Socky was filmed on a green screen with various props in the foreground and interacting with the “phone hand” to create humorous and joyful moments. Although the environments appear to be large, the set up of the shots is quite contained to ensure precision on Socky's mannerisms and expressions, as well as the overall timings.
Once the edit is finalised Practice move into compositing and visual effects, incorporating the app screen, laying in the cg background and colouring the footage to create the final finished spots. This is where Socky's living room and garage come to life with the stitching together of the 3D background, Socky himself, the practical elements and phone app interface. Practice's dedication to detail means that no small detail goes unnoticed.