Talking Sprouts with Smith & Foulkes

With less than a month to go until the Big Day, the Christmas countdown is on. And while many may have thought that they had already seen all there is for 2015’s Christmas campaigns, directing duo Smith & Foulkes have reinvented the traditional festive story and honed in on an often unloved character, the sprout.

By changing tact, the vegetable-inspired animation released earlier this week (below) is fresh and remains culturally relevant. The Nexus duo speak to shots about the true meaning of Christmas, enjoying greater freedom working on TV idents and giving Sprout Boy a pair of shoes.

Did you receive a brief from the BBC? And if so, what was it?

The script came to us from RKCR/Y&R. We originally helped them pitch the idea to the BBC but we thought it might be a little too leftfield for such a mainstream channel! So, credit to the BBC for going with it. Our brief was to bring Sprout Boy and his world to life; designing the characters and landscapes, and storyboarding the scenes to tell the tale of a sprout looking for friends at Christmas.

We’ve seen all sorts of Christmas campaigns crop up this year – from Sainsbury’s CG Mog the Cat to John Lewis’ live-action Man on the Moon. Why did you decide that animation was the best way to tell the story of Sprout Boy?

Well let's face it, live-action Sprout Boys are hard to come by, so we imagined a world where our little animated fella could happily (and occasionally unhappily) exist. We wanted to create a crafted tactile hyper-real world that was rich in atmosphere and imbued with the spirit of a British folk tale. Animation is especially good at creating this, and also brings that make-believe magic that is perfect for a Christmas tale. TV idents are a little different from commercial Christmas campaigns which allowed us to just tell a sweet little story rather than worry about the commercial necessities of products and aspirational lifestyles.

What was the inspiration behind the character of Sprout Boy, besides obviously trying to get everyone to support and (finally) enjoy Brussel sprouts?

We always saw him as a wide-eyed innocent who is so excited that Christmas has finally arrived. He sees festive joy in everything, even if he’s not exactly welcomed with open arms. But despite his rejection, his spirit shines through and he never gives up hope. It was important to capture these different emotions in his performance, initially showing his hope, excitement and wonder at the world around him before doubt and confusion begin to appear. And then, of course, finally his joy and celebration. And for some reason it felt right that he would wear little hobnail boots.

Were there any challenges in realising the spot? 

Whenever you are asked to create animated versions of celebrities you are on a hiding to nothing. You have to walk the tightrope between creating a visually engaging world of character design and making them actually recognisable. Some were easier than others, but most have their ‘thing’ that makes them recognisable no matter how simplified the design. Will.i.am has his glasses, Dot [Cotton from EastEnders] her hairdo and Mary Berry, her signature pink jacket. It didn’t help that Claudia and Tess change their hairstyles every week on Strictly and we’re still not sure if Graham Norton has a beard!

We also had to be careful with scale when Sprout Boy stands next to humans. Obviously we had to be able to see him, but if we made him too big there was a danger of cabbage confusion… And nobody wants that.

More and more Christmas ads seem to convey important messages about society. Why do you think this is and what sort of message did you want Sprout Boy to tell?

The BBC were very keen to represent modern British society rather than a Dickensian pastiche. So it was important to show a vibrant community and the bustle of urban life. They were also worried about the idea of rejection, particularly at Christmas. But I think the tongue-in-cheek nature of the idea (and the fact that a lot of people hate sprouts!) makes their rejection understandable. What that says about today’s society I don’t know, we’re not making any deeper philosophical points. We just want people to root for Sprout Boy in his adventures. He just wants to have a good time at Christmas and I think we can all sympathise with that. 

Is there a certain pressure to enter the running of Christmas ads, and how did you overcome this? 

Christmas is a very hard thing to ‘reinvent’ as the cultural images are ingrained on our consciousness since childhood. That’s why it is useful to play upon commonly-held beliefs, like everyone hating sprouts, except at Christmas. There is only so much Christmas imagery to go around, so inevitably the concern is that there will be some crossover of similar ideas with commercial campaigns. You just have to concentrate on your own idea and not worry what everyone else is up to.

It is very similar to a Grow the Best Vegetable competitions. Everyone begins work in the height of summer, nurturing their project in glorious isolation, until four months later when you bring them along to the Christmas fair and whip off the covers.  Then, it's a case of who’s got the biggest sprout, I guess. But making this film allowed us to tell much more of a story than we could in a commercial, so we don’t really feel the need for a comparison. It's a story about the spirit of Christmas itself, so hopefully it will stand out for that.