UNIT & LNER bring back beloved Puppet Eleanor for their latest campaign
UNIT, the independent shortform and longform creative studio based in Fitzrovia, has partnered with DAWN Productions to deliver VFX and finishing for LNER’s latest digital out of home campaign, continuing the brand’s ongoing platform featuring the Eleanor puppet.
Building on the visual language of the previous campaign, the new work, Directed by Jack Terry with Executive Producer Dawn Moretti & UNIT Executive Producer Phil Delaney, comprises five digital out of home executions and sees the familiar puppet character return in a series of composed, character-led moments.
UNIT’s involvement spanned offline edit, online, colour, compositing, with a particular focus on seamlessly integrating multiple elements into a unified final image.
The Eleanor puppet was shot on green screen with puppeteers, within a practical carriage built in a studio surrounded by a greenscreen. UNIT combined extensive compositing and colour work to place the character convincingly into a range of environments, using multiple plates and locations to create a single, coherent visual world. A key challenge lay in removing puppeteers while adding background action and passengers, ensuring the character remained central and believable across all executions.
The work was led by UNIT Flame artists Fraser Cleland and Rob Ellis, Grade was by Creative Director of Colour Denny Cooper and Offline Edit by Colin Sumsion.
Reflecting on the collaboration, UNIT Executive Producer Phil Delaney said “Working with DAWN on this campaign was a genuinely collaborative process. There was a shared understanding of the character, the tone and the craft required to bring it together, which made it a rewarding piece of work from start to finish.”
The campaign continues LNER’s use of character-driven storytelling, combining humour, familiarity and craft-led post production to extend an established brand world into new executions.
Creds:
Stills & Moving image Production Co: DAWN Productions
Executive Producer: Dawn Moretti
Senior Producer: Fliss Cruickshank
Director/Stills Photographer: Jack Terry
DOP: Dom John
1st AD/Producer: Dave Treagust
Puppeteers: Andy Heath, Iestyn Evans, Lynn Robertson Bruce
Production:-
Focus Puller: Nacho Guzman
Clapper Loader: Róisín Byrne
Playback Op: Rob Toft
Gaffer: Pete Hepplewhite
Spark: Roger Richards
Digi Tech: Gareth Williams
Runners: Max Blunt, Ally Hicks, Willbur Collier
Belgrade, Serbia Unit:
Exec Producer: Goran Djikic
Line Producer: Vladimir Dudar
Production Manager: Aleksandar Mitrovic
Production Manager: Ivana Popovic
PA: Sara Popovic
PA: Petar Pusic
2nd AD: Katarina Bošković & Ratko Obrenov
Unit Manager: Milos Eric
Unit Runner: Vanja Vorgic
Focus Puller: Marko Jokic
Clapper Loader: Andrei Panov
Video Assistant: Zeljko Nikolic
DIT: Filip Orlandic
Qtake Op: Ivan Tanaskovic
Digi Tech: Matt Lloyd
Gaffer: Dragan Šapić
Desk Op: Branislav Djurkovic
Key Grip: Ivan Lekovic
Truss Op: Predrag Perovic
Production Designer UK: Mar Ingham
Art Director: Damjan Paransosic
Standby Props: Alen Hasanovic
Props Assistant: Dejan Piljak
Costume Designer: Ivana Ivic
Costume Designer Assistant: Anja Radovic
Make Up Artist: Irena Miletic
Hair Stylist: Zvezdana Svetozarevic
