This year’s non-grid iron entertainment at Super Bowl XXXIX was relatively staid. Cute stories and seamless vfx were on view in spots for (left) Emerald Nuts (© 2005 Diamond of California) and Visa’s Check Card (Courtesy of Visa).

There was just no topping Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” at Super Bowl XXXIX, which turned out to be a relatively low-key event both on and off the field.

As is usually the case, all eyes were on the commercials, whose price tag was $2.4 million for a mere 30 seconds of airtime. But perhaps wary of the FCC indecency campaign that followed last year’s provocative halftime show, nearly all 59 of the advertisements that aired during the NFL title game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots played it safe.

Cute and comic stories with seamless (rather than full-blown) effects seemed to be the order of the day, observes Amy Taylor, a vfx artist who’s also exec director and partner of New York-based visual effects house Quiet Man, which worked on five spots.

Indeed, there’s no escaping the understated, organic approach by nut producer Emerald of California, whose spot featured oddball imagery that relied on clever observations vs. pratfalls to get across the advertiser’s message, notes Kevin Prendiville, a vfx supervisor as well as lead compositor and flame artist with The Syndicate in Santa Monica, California, which created the ad. “It wasn’t ever meant to push the boundary of visual effects,” he says, noting how the use of very little character movement was intentional. “The biggest concern was that it looked real.”

Heroic Portrayal
One of the biggest splashes came courtesy of Visa, a Super Bowl advertiser since 1994. In its lighthearted spot, some of Marvel Enterprises Inc.’s most popular comic-book characters rush to the rescue when they hear the cry of a citizen in distress -- only to discover it’s a false alarm. Various super heroes explain to the woman featured in the ad that her stolen Visa check card offers valuable protection from fraudulent charges.

The overall focus was on the 3D animation of Spider-Man and particle effects work for Thor and Captain America, explains Stephen K. Mann, senior character technical director with New York-based digital design house Charlex, which created the spot. Since a larger-than-life look was sought, lead effects technical director Bill Watral relied on his artistic sense to balance the need for realistic effects with comic-book sensibilities.