Review Series - Suggy's Hair Removal Cream (From HELL) is my Graduate film and my final student film/ animation at UCA Canterbury. This is the first in a future series that follows funny, shocking and entertaining reviews left on real websites like Amazon, ebay etc. The animation re-enacts and visualises the real story and review left by an unhappy customer on Amazon.com. The narrative follows a man who intends to ‘do the deed on the missus’s birthday as a bit of a treat’ but instead (with the use of the product: Suggy’s), experiences something no man (or woman) should ever have to feel.
The animation shows a cartoon character existing and moving in a real space (my student house) accompanied by textural, photographic and collage animation, all of which to develop a fun aesthetic: enhancing the 'not so serious' nature of the story and making it more fun for us, laughing in the customers misery.
Character Design
Journal ideas
The character style was inspired by my observational drawing, sketches and doodles that I do throughout the year. I tend to draw people on the train, in public or even on TV and in films in my own quirky style but I've never utilised them. In my film, I wanted to use this style and make it move, using the fun aesthetic of the illustrations to mirror the comic nature of the narrative. Here are some images from my journal.
As the story (and series) is all about products, I wanted to make that element of the video real. I decided to make the Suggy's Hair Removal Cream bottle myself, using old shower gel tubes and painting my design over the top. My animation (hand drawn) style is quite rough so I wanted this to be reflected in the design of the bottle as well as to realistically co-exist with the character.
Below is the final animated video.