QUIET MAN raps on the newest Barrons spot. The visual effects driven spot, entitled "What's Coming," was filmed almost entirely on a bluescreen, which remains visible, mimicking the colors of the Barrons' logo. The spot begins with a man standing with his face buried in a copy of Barrons. Without lifting his head, he takes out an umbrella right before rain begins to fall. After the rain stops, the man takes a step to his left just avoiding a grand piano crashing down on the spot where he was just standing.

WILL VINTON STUDIOS has delivered a new spot entitled "Choices" promoting 989 Studios' video game SYPHON FILTER 2. Mike Wellins directed the CGI commercial for San Francisco-based ad agency, Butler, Shine & Stern. The spot is designed to look like a scene taken directly from the game. The ad starts with the hero running on top of a speeding train firing his machine gun at approaching enemy. When the valiant hero corners the villain, the evil foe suddenly asks whether he can be "done in" with something less painful than a gun.

CHARLEX founder and creative director Alex Weil has created "Casual George," a 30-second spot to introduce the new "gold dollar" coin from the U.S. Mint. Charlex brings the stoic face of the first U.S. president off the dollar bill and places it on a lean young body. George gets jiggy with friends at a club, scuba dives with the fishes and drives a classic car along the freeway. "This project was about creating the character of George," said Weil. "We wanted to give him as much humanity as possible. When he reacts to the new one dollar coin, we wanted a reaction everybody can relate to.

BLACK LOGIC wins big with new visual effects commercial for the Wisconsin Lottery. The spot highlights the new FastLucky5.com, a cutting-edge on-line game from the Wisconsin Lottery. Black Logic's Michel Suissa directed the ad. The fast paced spot begins with the declaration, "We have seen the future, and it's digital." The colorful spot bursts with floating digits and 3D animation and promises "a whole new way to play the numbers." Suissa said, "The challenge was to appeal to a younger audience, while remaining coherent and relevant.

Animation and visual effects house, CELLULOID STUDIOS, and live-action production company, VISITOR, helped Anheuser-Busch christen their new Bubble Boy Hockey League campaign. The 30-second "press conference" spots feature Hall of Fame hockey legend Wayne Gretzky as the first commissioner of a new league consisting of the Bubble Boys -- those tabletop hockey players found in many bars and dens. Celluloid created the blend of 2D animation and digital manipulation that brought to life the stiff, plastic Bubble Boy hockey players.

HELIUM inflated the new Relenza ads for Santa Monica, California-based design firm FUEL/Razorfish. The 30-second spot for Relenza's anti-flu prescription medication features 3D animation of the process in which a viral infection develops in the lungs. Scenes were also created to demonstrate the inhalation of the particulate medicine and for the spot's closing title sequence. The animation team consisted of John Scheafer, Helium's Creative Director and Miles Vignol, technical director, along with animator Suzi Hammon and producer Karin Rainey.

SIMEX Digital Studios teamed up with DUCK SOUP STUDIOS to combine live-action with animation in the new Keebler Elves spot. Promoting Chips Deluxe Cookies, the commercial entitled "One Upsman Chip" pits various elves against each other in a bake-off. SimEx wove together the animation from director Sam Cornell with live-action cookies. Animation director Jean Perramon of SimEx helped add a 3D touch to the backgrounds of the spot. The commercial was produced by Carolyn Bates at Duck Soup and Christina Cox at SimEx. SimEx and Duck Soup created the spot for Chicago-based ad agency Leo Burnett.

Sweden-based animation studio Filmtecknarna F. Animation has produced eleven 30-second, 2D animated spots for Oxygen Media entitled "Mom's On-line." The commercials are based on actual advice on childcare that mothers have posted on the Oxygen Web site. Commissioned by Oxygen Media's Bee Murphy, the spots were directed by Jonas Odell and produced by Leila El-Zein. Filmtecknarna produces commercials for the international market, as well as short films and TV series. Their spot for the British beer "Boddingtons" is currently nominated in the British Animation Awards.

Denmark-based A. FILM has rapped on a 35-second commercial for Kellogg's

Cereal. The spot was directed by Craig Frank and produced for the Leo

Burnett agency. The classic 2D animation spot launches a new image campaign

introducing Kellogg's Town, where 8 popular Kellogg's figures like

Cornelius, Tony the Tiger, Coco, Chocos, Loopy, Snap, Crackle and Pop live.

The spot will air in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

RING OF FIRE roasts with two new spots for the Washington Apple Commission.

Produced for Seattle-based agency McCann Erickson, the 30-second

commercials highlight the heroic deeds of Apple Guy. In "Car Trip," Apple

Guy revives a family of four with apples before they drive their car off

the road. In "Hikers," Apple Guy rescues two campers from a crumbling rope

bridge. To keep the fast pace of the spots up, Ring of Fire used a blurring

technique they call "snap zoom morph" to transition from various shots