Heineken - Streetcar

Content

A man comes home from work and experiences stress due to public transport and the crowds. At home he finds comfort in beer.

Trivia

In the period 1968/69, Joop Geesink produced a number of short television commercials for Heineken. It is in black and white because it was intended for TV, which only broadcast in black and white at the time. Although the origin is not 100% clear, it is often claimed that the slogan ‘Heerlijk Helder Heineken’ (Deliciously Clear Heineken) was coined by Geesink at the time, whether or not in consultation with brewer Freddy Heineken. Joop Geesink's Dollywood has realised several puppet film campaigns for Heineken, including for the subsidiary brand Amstelbier.

Head

These puppet films stand out in style because of the large heads. This was a fashion trend that can be seen in several films. The trend originated in the world of cartoons. For cartoon and comic characters, this hydrocephalus did not impede the action. In puppet animation, movement is considerably limited because the arms cannot extend beyond the head. The puppet would also have been top-heavy and therefore difficult to animate. The man is being shaken about while boarding the tram. A series of interchangeable puppet heads reinforced the effect. The total length of the film is 30 seconds. However, the first 10 seconds are live action, followed by 10 seconds of stop motion and then another 10 seconds of live action. So only 1/3 of the film is puppet animation. This made the production of the films considerably cheaper, but the impression remained that it was a puppet film advertisement. The same figure appears in several Heineken films.

Helping hand

It is funny to see that a lot of effort was put into showing the uncorking of the bottle as well as possible. The actor places his left hand on a support that is just placed outside the frame. Apparently, a lot of force had to be applied to loosen the bottle cap.