Barbie grows up in Mattel's new spots for My Scene Barbie, which target the classic doll to a new audience of tween girls. To launch the My Scene line, Mattel and ad agency Peterson Milla Hooks in Minneapolis turned to New York design and production company Curious Pictures to produce a package of TV spots. Directed by Boo Wong, 3 of the spots are cel animated and 5 are a mix of live-action and graphics.

Visual effects and design company A52 recently completed visual effects and CGI work for RSA USA and director Adrian Moat for Nissan Maxima's "Paint Remover," which illustrates the speed of the Maxima automobile in a surprising way. Conceived by TBWAChiatDay's project art director Jason Stinsmuehlen and copywriters Eric Grunbaum and Neil Hughlett, the concept of the spot was a new Nissan Maxima races through the desert so fast that its paint completely peels away.

Toronto-based design and animation company Ghostmilk Studios provided the stop-motion animation used to bring a cereal father and son to life in "Snowman," a new spot for Kellogg's Canada by way of agency Leo Burnett. Bob Fortier of Axyz directed the holiday spot, which opens on a winter scene designed out of construction paper on a wooden school desk. A stick figure father and son, made from actual Rice Krispies and Frootloops cereal pieces, are brought to life and together share a seasonal moment building a snowman.

Hibbert Ralph Animation (HRA) recently completed two 30-second commercials for the Colorado Lottery by way of Denver-based agency Karsh & Hagan, each incorporating very different styles and techniques. Directed by Tom Gravestock, "Musical Machine" combines live-action stills with 2D and multi-media and follows the yellow lottery balls as they move through a giant musical machine. The music machine itself is a mixed-media sculpture of paint pots, car parts and drainpipes, which is watched over by 2D animated attendants.

Los Angeles-based Tigar Hare Studios has delivered a character animation driven ID package for TBS Superstation’s new "Non-Stop Comedy Block" afternoon sitcom lineup. Working with the design group TAG, more than 90 seconds of motion graphics were choreographed with the animation of the letters T, B and S of the TBS Superstation logo. After coming to life, the three letters move through a stylized city where they encounter the stars of SEINFELD, FRIENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT and THE DREW CAREY SHOW. The letters then finally join the word Superstation to form the logo of the network.

Cuppa Coffee Animation recently completed two very different spots for Cartoon Network to promote two of the network's most popular shows. The studio created a 60-second promo for SAMURAI JACK, which combines eerie imagery with a predominantly red palette and an ominous soundtrack. Cuppa Coffee explained that it was an opportunity to do something a little more edgy and frightening than usual for the Cartoon Network airwaves. "Jack is one of the most original shows on the air," said Hector Herrera, creative director at Cuppa Coffee.

Atlanta-based broadcast design company Primal Screen has created an animated show open for the new TNT program LISTEN UP! The live, half-hour show features basketball legend Charles Barkley and host Ernie Johnson in conversation with guests from the worlds of sports, entertainment and news. Drawing on a style heavily influenced by graffiti art, the open features Barkley and Johnson rushing through city streets to the studio where the show takes place. Animation director and graffiti artist Ward Jenkins styled the piece to give a glimpse into the character of the show.

Brown & Williamson’s KOOL cigarettes campaign has found a new outlet for display, thanks to a 30-second spot produced by The Studio Upstairs via agency BatesUSA. Entitled "Pulse," the spot is designed to be viewed on bathroom walls in nightclubs across the U.S. via a broadcast medium known as narrowcasting. Narrowcasting is a narrowly focused mix of media created for a specific viewer. The medium is viewed in a public place, usually at a relevant point of contact with the consumer.

Santa Monica-based visual effects house R!OT recently worked the bugs into a new 30-second spot for the travel Website Expedia.com. A team of three compositors and a computer animator created the swarms of flying insects that menace a pair of vacationers in the spot, conceived by Deutsch, Los Angeles. In "Mosquito Net," a woman exploring hotel choices on Expedia.com sees the descriptive phrase "mosquito nets in every room" under a hotel listing. The woman imagines herself and her husband in a tropical hideaway, only to awaken in the middle of the night besieged by insects.

Head Gear Animation recently completed some spooky stop-motion animation for Cartoon Network’s October programming on-air promotions. To promote the network's "Scaretoon Scaretoon Fright Days," Courage the Cowardly Dog and his owner Eustace bury a television set in the backyard. The buried cel animation TV is transformed into a stop-motion zombie version of its formerly benign self. Courage quakes with fear as the TV rises from the grave sporting a promo for "Scaretoon Scaretoon Fright Days" programming.

Rhinoceros Visual Effects once again took up the challenge of creating feisty, photo-realistic fruit for Grey Advertising and client Robitussin. As a follow up to their previously completed spot for Robitussin Sunny Orange, Rhinoceros was asked to create a conga line of raspberries for Robitussin Sunny Raspberry. In the spot, the jazzy raspberries join a dancing line of Robitussin lozenges, all heading towards the Sunny Raspberry package. The challenge was to make the raspberries look as real as possible, while still allowing them to get their groove on.

Renegade Animation provided the animation for a new spot for Dodge RAM trucks in which the automaker’s RAM logo sends a mischievous decal an unambiguous message to "piss off." Conceived by BBDO Detroit, the commercial centers on the familiar decal of a boy peeing that springs to life on the back window of a Dodge RAM. Mixing live action with animation, "Don’t Mess" opens on a black Dodge RAM truck pulling into a desert gas station. When the driver gets out, the outline of a boy in a baseball hat appears on the back window and makes his way across the glass.

Santa Monica, California-based Goodspot Design recently completed an extensive package of original broadcast design and animation work for Fox Sports' 2002 NFL on-air promotions graphics. The 30-, 20- and 10-second promos debuted on Fox in September 2002.

San Francisco-based Phoenix Effects & Design, a division of Phoenix Editorial, has completed two 30-second spots for AT&T Broadband Internet service via advertising agency Hoffman/Lewis, San Francisco, and is at work on a third, which will promote AT&T Broadband Cable Television service. All three of the entirely CG spots were directed by Matt Silverman and designed by Jason Ett of Phoenix Editorial. The spots fuse clean, minimalist graphics and a computer-generated cable zipping across a white background with upbeat surf-guitar music to create a lively image for the broadband service.

In eight 15-second spots for General Mills' Pop Secret, by way of agency Campbell Mithun/Minneapolis, Moo Studios' director Shaun Sewter combined live-action and stop-frame photography of a mountain of popcorn with simple type treatments to create distinctive moods for the microwave popcorn's many flavors. All the popcorn action in the spot was stop-frame animated, as opposed to being created via CGI. In one spot, titled "Swarm," a swirling mound of popcorn diminishes in size as its pieces disperse, like bees leaving a hive.

Framestore CFC has recently completed work on a new TV commercial titled "Cow and Bear," which features two animated plastic containers (a chocolate syrup-filled cow and a honey-filled bear) fighting over the pleasure of dispensing their contents on a plate of Kellogg's Eggo waffles. The 30-second spot represents the first time that the U.K.-based Framestore, best known for their work on the Discovery Channel's WALKING WITH DINOSAURS mini-series, has created photo-real character animation for a prominent U.S. client. Another first for Framestore was handling all post-production online.

Nickelodeon recently collaborated with New York-based visual effects company Black Logic to create a 60-second promo for Nickelodeon.com’s Jimmy Neutron Gotta Blast Rocket Race campaign. In "How To Play," Black Logic recreated the Jimmy Neutron character and his rocket ship, as well as countless effects sequences and CGI backgrounds in order to produce the effects packed commercial.

Portland, Oregon's Happy Hour Entertainment recently completed CG work on a campaign of regional television commercials for Indianapolis-based shopping center Simon Mall. Teamed with advertising agency Publicis Mid-America, Happy Hour produced four 15-second spots to complement Simon’s current print campaign. Each spot begins with a paper gift certificate which then folds and transforms itself into a shirt, purse, nutcracker and rocking horse.

Princeton Video Image, Inc. (PVI) and FOX Sports presented the first dynamic animated virtual advertisements on a live national U.S. broadcast. The ads debuted during the FOX NFL pre-game show on Sunday, September 22, 2002. Using the same technology as PVI's well-known Virtual First Down Line, which appears on NFL and college football broadcasts allowing viewers at home to see a "virtual chalk line" on the field, the three 10-second ads featured Ford F-250 Super Duty trucks rolling on to Ford Field in Detroit and interacting with the field and the stadium in different ways.

The CGI and visual effects team of Black Logic recently collaborated with agency Foote Cone and Belding to create CGI and visual effects for a new commercial introducing Nabisco’s new Oreo Cookie Barz. The spot, entitled "UFO," was directed by Greg Kohs and edited by Jerry Fried. Mixing live-action with animation, the spot features documentary-style news interviews of various teenagers describing what seems to be a UFO sighting. As the last teen reveals that she is talking about a new cookie bar, a silver UFO created in CGI by Black Logic, appears behind her and flies out of frame.