Uli Meyer Animation has just finished its second Cookie Crisp commercial, SPRING IN THE CITY, for Saatchi & Saatchi London featuring Chip the wolf.
It plays on the same theme as the previous commercial SLING SHOT, also directed by Uli Meyer; Chip inventing new and wacky ways to obtain his beloved Cookie Crisp.
KromA used its vfx wizardry to help create a wicked, live-action cartoon in LIGHT YOUR ASS ON FIRE, the latest video from Busta Rhymes. The track comes from THE NEPTUNES PRESENT CLONES, a new album from rap producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo that has Rhymes cackling his way through a delirious rap atop a percussive beat.
Method recently collaborated with Fredrik Bond/MJZ, renowned character designer company Stan Winston Prods. and Goodby Silverstein San Francisco to create the visual effects in a new spot for HP and the United States Postal Service, IL POSTINO.
IOMEDIA Inc. teamed with MTV On-Air Promotions to create the motion graphics for a 15-second promotional spot for the mtv.com online game, FANTASY MUSIC TYCOON. Airing on MTV2, the spot was customized to fit MTV's needs within a three-day timeframe. Followed by a montage of video footage and images, a graphics sequence features $100 bills raining down until one bill sweeps past the camera, wiping into the final shot of the FANTASY MUSIC TYCOON logo.
For the fifth straight year, Blur Studio created a graphics package for THE TEEN CHOICE AWARDS, developing a '60s lounge-themed aesthetic that was chosen, in part, by the popular awards show's teen viewers themselves. The lively, youth-oriented package includes the show's main title, category headers, winner banners, bumpers and background plates, as well as elements used in network promos. Blur Studio has created graphics for THE TEEN CHOICE AWARDS each year since its inception in 1998.
A jazz musician blows a note, the horn extends and his body language projects the coolness of the moment. A man and woman sit listening. He pulls out a package of Dentyne Fire and pops a piece into his mouth. Suddenly the club, the music and the mood transition from Cool Blue Jazz to Red Hot Salsa. The transformation is subtle. The crowd is not shocked or surprised. In fact, perhaps this happens every time they chew Dentyne Fire.
Commercial film and design company Hornet Inc. recently completed INSTRUCTOART for MTV, a series of eight promos that will premier during the MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, 2003.
To create the spots, Hornet creative director Eng San Kho worked in close collaboration with the INSTRUCTOART creator Matt Vescovo. "The biggest challenge was figuring out how to best animate the spots and still stay true to its humor," said Kho.
New York-based Perception has wrapped production on a new spot for ESPN Classics first live broadcast, covering the 2003 MLB Hall of Fame inauguration. Featuring a pebbled paper look and a American red, white and blue color palette, the spot's POV roams around an immense admission ticket. Video highlights of both baseball greats Gary Carter and Eddie Murray were composited along with their statistics and broadcast details into the background.
The vfx artists at Ring of Fire recently demonstrated their digital talent on a three-spot campaign for Sony Walkman Personal Audio Products via Young & Rubicam/New York. The spots feature Sony's popular mascot Plato - a gangly, blue-furred extraterrestrial who seems to know how to have a good time. ATHENS BEACH, MORNING AFTER and MUSIC LIBRARY required Ring of Fire to make the actions of Plato appear seamless.
Brickyard VFX recently used boujou, the 3D camera matchmoving software from 2d3 to complete a complex shot tracking for PODS UNITE, a new commercial promoting Volkswagen's New Beetle and the Apple iPod. A longtime 2d3 customer based out of Boston, Brickyard handled all visual effects and compositing for the 30-second tie-in spot, produced via advertising agency Arnold Worldwide.
Blur Studio recently provided CG TV spots and a billboard campaign for satellite radio service Sirius, working with Miami ad agency Crispin, Poter & Bogusky. The Venice, California-based design and animation studio provided everything from storyboarding and concept design through title design, 3D animation and final post. In addition, Blur produced artwork for a national billboard campaign.
R!OT Santa Monica provided color correction, vfx and animation for a Hoover spot in which a vacuum cleaner undertakes the monumental task of cleaning up Monument Valley, Utah, best known as the location of the John Ford westerns.
Moneyshots (www.moneyshotspost.com), a full-service visual effects design studio in Santa Monica, California, recently completed online work for TRAINING CAMP, part of Reebok's "Terry Tate: Office Line-Backer" campaign. The :30 spot features Tate going through his daily conditioning paces sporting Reebok's "Scrimmage" cross-trainer athletic shoe.
Moneyshots created all the logographics and taglines as well as provided cosmetic background treatment such as digitally replacing walls that were removed for on-set camera access and floor "clean-up," using Flame.
IOMEDIA Inc. collaborated with MTV On-Air Promotions to create a series of promotional spots for the network's new weekly live music show, HARD ROCK LIVE, which premiered in July 2003. The series features a variety of the hottest live summer concerts from the Hard Rock Live Coliseum in Orlando, Florida.
In promotion of Panasonics new Nitrix mini-system stereos, Renegade Marketing Group has developed the Flash game NITRIX SERIES RACING for the Panasonic Website. The game will be featured within the sites Club Panasonic, the community within Panasonic.com that offers exclusive sweepstakes, promotions and product enhancements. One or two winners per month will win a Nitrix Mini System. The other top point earners will win a consolation prize package containing Nitrix t-shirts, key chains, etc. The game will remain on the site beyond the six-month duration of the contest.
Adam Taylor, partner and creative director for Topanga, California-based Taylor Entertainment Group LLC recently completed three new PINK PANTHER animated promotional shorts for MGM Studios. Animated in Flash, these 90-second shorts promote PINK PANTHERs worldwide consumer products and licensing business. Adam animated, storyboarded and directed these special edition promos.
Visual effects studio Moneyshots has completed design and compositing work on ICE CREAM, the new music video from hip-hop group JS. Director Dave Meyers wanted a glossy and vibrant 3D environment filled with colorful heart, star and clover shapes to surround the members of JS. Created by art director Charles Enfante, the pattern was inspired by the new Louis Vuitton designs and first appears in the video on a white ice cream truck, transforming into a 3D environment.
In an effort to help cultivate new talent, A52 provided its services to recent Art Center College of Design graduate and rising director Ania Hoffman for work on her Nike spec commercial. As a result of the 30-second spot entitled FULL MOON, the Russian-born Hoffman received representation in Japan by production company Size. The relationship was kicked off when Hoffman was introduced to A52 producer Leighton Greer.
A pink washing machine drops from the sky, heralding a new way to get clothes clean in a clever 30-second television spot produced by Click 3x for SPRAY 'n WASH and Euro RSCG MVBMS Partners, New York. The spot, combining computer animation and digital photography, promotes new SPRAY 'n WASH In-Wash Laundry Stain Remover, known as SPRAY 'n WASH Pink.
Portland, Oregon-based Happy Hour Entertainment has delivered a 30-second cel-animated television spot for RealNetworks RealOne NBAPass online media subscription service. The spot, entitled TIMMY, features a sports-inept boy with a computer for a head, who becomes very popular because of his classmates can watch NBA highlights through RealOnes NBA Inside Ticket on his noggin.
Millimages has announced that it has wrapped its first assignment in its new venture into commercial production. Advertising agency BETC Euro RSCG appointed Millimages to produce a new campaign for mobile telephone operator, Orange. The project was managed by Serge Ewenczyk. Illustrator Lewis Trondheim, who is well-known for his cartoon work, teamed with young director, Merwan Chabanne, on the series of 30-second 2D animated spots, which started airing June 30, 2003 in France.
Venice, California-based Blur Studio has created the vintage Atari video game-looking graphics for this year's Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, the only awards show dedicated to kids' favorite movies, music, TV and sports. As part of the package, Blur produced a main title, headers, monitor fills, lower-thirds, as well as other elements.
Digital effects and design studio Ring of Fire brought out the beast in the average household cat in a captivating spot for Whiskas in a clever mix of stock footage and live-action, with a few CG tricks to make viewers believe that the family feline was running down a huge water buffalo on the African veldt in a wildlife documentary.
Broadcast design and animation company Humunculus produced two colorful musical broadcast spots promoting Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures' RUGRATS GO WILD. The two :60s are titled SPIKE SPEAKS! and TOGETHER! The first debuted May 15 and the second premiered on May 26.
Utilizing a cinematic approach, R!OT Santa Monica recently set the scene for a new 30-second TV spot promoting two Master of the Universe action figures. He-Man and Skeletor, part of Mattel's new toy line, trade swords and spears in a fantasy fight sequence set on a dusty plain under crimson skies. Conceived by Young & Rubicam, Irvine, the high-energy spot invites kids to "live the ultimate battle."
