300's Liquid Battlefield is a perfect example of the growing extreme of visual effects. moving from photoreal to stylized looks. © Warner Bros. 

Extreme Realities
There were no effects of water or smoke in this year's smaller selection of ads, but there were plenty of complexity and extreme visuals. Two movies in particular pushed twisted realities to an absurd conclusion - equilibrio's unbalanced bodybuilder and Raymond's unfortunate guinea pig were fun examples of experiments that had run amok.

As in 300, Vigorsol: The Legend gave a stylish, painterly feel to its environment while its fire-fighting squirrel went to extreme measures to save his beloved forest. Sears Tools Arboretum was a hypnotic, seamless blend of organic materials and tools with a uniquely ambiguous effect. But the most impressive piece of extreme reality this year was the live action tumbling effect from Weta Digital's Travelers: Snowball ad, with a result previously seen only in the cult PlayStation game Katamari Damashii.

CG work has long been part of commercials, but HP Hands Paulo Coelho highlights the experimentation that takes place in advertising. Courtesy of Motion Theory.

The remaining ads were more artistic and poetic. Happiness Factory answered the questions: How to visualize “joy”? And what happens inside a soda vending machine? The wonderful series of ads for HP was represented by HP Hands Paulo Coelho, with an exciting blend of symbolism and magic, taking the viewer on a visual journey through the imaginary world of the author of The Alchemist.

Finally, one of the rare artistic experiments in this year's selection, Swirl, used Fluid Motion Simulation to create an animated sculpture that certainly left a few people in the audience scratching their heads.

Back to The Basics

Great visual effects are only means to an end -- telling a great story. This year's studio productions and student work had two major traits in common -- over-the-top comedy and a stylish, cartoony feel.

Blue Sky Studios' No Time For Nuts sent their mascot, Scrat, through a hilarious, fast paced run after his beloved nut through Time. Pixar's latest short from Gary Rydstrom, Lifted, put a sleeping farmer through the abuse of an alien abductor in training. Blur Studio went for a surrealistic duel straight out of Jules Verne's worst nightmares with A Gentlemen's Duel. While all three were impeccably directed and extremely funny, they had the feel of polished productions one could expect from large studios.