Phoebe Rowe

Brits by Brits is a comedy TV show that uses satirical humour to break down British regional stereotypes. The intention is to make the audience think by showing how ridiculous stereotypes often are.

The main animation for this project is the Brits by Brits 30 second TV advert. It brings all elements of the brand together and gives the audience a quick insight into each region/episode. Since 10 characters were created, there would be 10 episodes, 1 per region. Due to the light-hearted type of illustrations created, the chosen tagline ‘Redefine the predefined’ acts as a prompt to make the audience think.

The name ‘Brits by Brits’ was chosen following all the regional research that was collected, it quite literally is Britain’s opinion of Britain. To create a brand that is both light-hearted and relatable there needed to be a human element to it. Experimenting with the characters hands created in the development process provided a personal and human touch.

Secondary brand values: Humorous, home comfort, bringing people together and family-friendly.

The natural direction the project took was pairing ‘Brits by Brits’ with a comedy channel that would host the series. When considering the brand values, the name ‘Comedy at Home’ worked well. The visual style represents comedy and cinema in a more corporate way similarly to Netflix, Comedy Central etc.

Each character was individually researched, hand-sketched, digitalized and then storyboarded. Digital storyboard development helped understand the animation process for each character and components needed within the layer files. The form of rigging used to animate these characters on After Effects was RubberHose V2. The animations combined a variety of rubberhose rigs, changing individual paths, parenting layers, alpha channels etc. Each layer was looped using an expression.

The first stage of advertising is a series of 3 posters combining all design elements. Through scanning the QR code, the web link will appear navigating the user to an option webpage. These posters will be placed around city centres, more concentrated in places of public transport.

Once the QR code has been scanned, the user will be given the choice between the augmented reality feature or to sign up for a free copy of the regional slang guide. The AR feature will place the character relevant to the user’s location as seen in the video links. The user can then share their image and videos on social media spreading awareness.

The final stage of promotion for the Brits by Brits TV series is guerrilla advertising. Lifesize face cut-outs placed at different airports, train stations, bus stations across each relevant region. This is to target the widest variety of people travelling to and from regions.

The intention behind this slang guide is for it to be a keepsake, potentially a coffee table book. It is relevant to the show to enable the audience to best understand each regions dialect but also relevant for everyday life. Each region is organised into beginner, intermediate and advanced slang levels to keep with the comedy theme.