Marionettes

In this campaign, a well-meaning husband tries to explain that DirecTV doesn't require wires, without offending his marionette wife. The puppets in the spots are 100% CG. But, by shooting real actors in full wardrobe, the CG artists had a live set in which the director could work freely and the actors could engage with real characters. Artists studied the movement of real marionettes to develop a suitable animation language. Their understanding allowed them to heighten the clumsiness of the animation to add comedy value where necessary, or tone down the motion to convey the connection between the characters.