It’s the classic tale of the three little pigs, only instead of seeking shelter in an indestructible brick house they run for the safety of a minivan.

Not your average car commercial showcasing a plush interior or how the vehicle handles on treacherous mountain roads, the Mobius Gold-winning ‘Three Little Pigs’ spot for Ford Windstar uses a classically animated story with a surprising ending to make its point.

As the story goes, the big bad wolf comes in and blows down one pig’s house and then another’s. Meanwhile, the third pig – a Windstar owner – waves them all into his minivan and they take off.

Young & Rubicam art director Dan Tanenbaum and copywriter Simon Creet came up with the concept to emphasize the theme of safety, and in an effort to set the spot apart, decided to take a cartoon approach.

The live-action portion, the minivan driving away, was directed by Avion Films’ George Morita. Animation director Chuck Gammage and animator Daryl Graham at Chuck Gammage Animation took care of the pigs and TOPIX/Mad Dog put it all together. Chris Van Dyke edited the live-action at The Daily Post.

A 2D animated ‘Disneyesque’ spot, ‘Three Little Pigs’ looks like a Saturday morning cartoon. It was traditionally drawn on paper then animated in the US Animation system.

topix/md Inferno artists Patrick Coffey and Frank Russo composited and integrated the live-action elements with the animation. The job entailed placing the pigs in the minivan, giving them shadows and reflections, and integrating motion.

One of the more challenging parts of the job according to Coffey, was putting the windows back on the windowless Windstar, which meant building cg windows in Inferno then tracking and compositing.

While many may not yet be familiar with Chuck Gammage Animation, a small shop just west of Toronto in Oakville, Ont., most are familiar with the work of its namesake owner, whether they know it or not.

An old hand at integrating live action and animation, Gammage was supervising animator for Baby Herman and Roger Rabbit on the Walt Disney/Amblin feature Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

He was sequence director and animator on Warner Bros.’ Space Jam and he had comedian Drew Carey dancing with Daffy Duck in the 1998 season finale of The Drew Carey Show.

Gammage’s commercial credits include some 2D cel animated spots with a ’50s retro look for Old Navy (a division of The Gap in the u.s.), ‘Factory,’ an award-winning spot with vintage Disney appeal for Coca-Cola, and ‘Toons’ for Denny’s Restaurants.

Although the vast majority of Gammage’s work has been from the u.s., he is hoping to become more of a presence on the Canadian advertising scene, and after three years in the ‘burbs has plans to move his shop to Toronto this spring.

‘It was fine being out here when we were doing primarily work for Warner Bros. and not relying on getting together with agencies,’ says Gammage, a Sheridan College graduate. ‘Now that we are doing commercial work I feel it’s important to be more in the loop.’

Currently the shop is focusing on commercials and is busy with fully animated spots for Chips Ahoy and Oreo cookies through fcb, Toronto.

Gammage has no interest in series work, however, he says he would love to be involved in another feature and has some ideas brewing for a half-hour special. But no matter what the future brings, the animator wants to keep the business small, remain self-sufficient, and ‘just keep going.’