The crew at guru animation studio in Toronto was recently presented a Silver Promax/BDA award for their work on 3 of 15 "very, very short films" for Canada's YTV network. Begun in July 2001, the spots were commissioned for YTV's 2001 fall branding campaign. The 3 1/2 second spots feature various characters, each of whom convey an abstract emotion, a weird concept or just a simple visceral pleasure.

Scooby-Doo scares up some spooks on the small screen in a new 15-second television spot produced by Blur Studio. Conceived by advertising agency G&M Plumbing, the spot promotes the release of the new PlayStation 2 video game SCOOBY-DOO: NIGHT OF 100 FRIGHTS. Like the game, the commercial is modeled after the SCOOBY-DOO television series rather than the recent feature film adaptation, although both transform the cel animated pooch into the world of 3D. The spot opens on a gabled mansion, shrouded in fog, its windows glowing with an eerie amber light.

Indian animation company 2nz recently created a "Jungle Safari" for Cheetos. Produced by Raj Kaushal of Fuel Productions through Hindustan Thomson Associates (the Indian affiliate of J. Walter Thomson worldwide), this 20-second live-action/animation spot opens on two kids sitting in the jungle enjoying a pack of Cheetos. They begin assembling 3D animals using the promotional "buildables" that are given free as part of Cheetos' latest promo offer. The plastic koala the boy is building comes to life via animation, and the kids are soon surrounded by the animals they have created.

London-based visual effects
facility The Mill recently completed visual effects work for the
latest Guinness commercial "Lava" by way of agency AMV. Director
Rupert Sanders shot the spot on location in Poland. In the
commercial, a small village is hit by an exploding volcano and lava
flows through the streets. People are fleeing their homes but the
local bar is in jeopardy, so the townsmen head off to save it. They
manage to stop the flow of hot lava but must walk across it to get

Celluloid Studios recently
completed three different animated spots for the card game UNO, by
way of agency FCB/Chicago and client Mattel Games. The three
commercials (30-, 20- and 15-seconds), titled "Everybody UNO," will
air worldwide. New York illustrator Kirsten Ulve provided the retro
character design for the spots, which was animated in a minimalist
style to complement the design. "You can do just about anything with
animation, but sometimes there's a tendency to do too much,"

Hollywood,
California-based production company Super 78 recently completed an
extensive graphics and animation package for the pilot of
reality-based show TAKE 2: LIVING THE MOVIES, airing on the USA
Network. The premise of the show is to assemble a cast of ordinary
people to recreate some of the most life-threatening,
adrenaline-pumping and outrageous scenes from well-known movies. For
this unique program, Super 78 designed and created animation that
illustrates the action for the benefit of the viewing audience.

New
York-based production company Dogmatic has created a 60-second
animated and live-action commercial for Pepsi, now airing in more
than 3,000 movie theaters nationwide. Featuring live-action footage
of Britney Spears behind-the-scenes in production of the Pepsi
commercial "Now and Then," the new spot, titled "Can Caper," frames
the live-action footage with an animated story where a basic
television turns into a curvaceous femme fatale and a mysterious
masked man is revealed to be a can of Pepsi. The animation was done

This spot
will make you want to reach for the floss. New York-based Rhinoceros
Visual Effects & Design recently created a 15-second spot titled
"Evolution" for client Colgate via agency Young & Rubicam. The spot
presents a CG portrayal of the new Active Angle toothbrush in action.
Although the concept was straightforward, CG director David Barosin
explained that he and his team had to negotiate some pretty complex
details. Because the toothbrush has a translucent quality, the light

R!OT artists have teamed with creatives from the design boutique Brand New School to create two spots for a new line of Heinz EZ Squirt flavored ketchup. Conceived by Leo Burnett, Chicago, each of the spots is chock full of sight gags, nonsequiturs and silliness. "Squirrel" opens with a man in a Viking outfit carrying a princess across a cheesy set as a leprechaun tosses gold dust in the air. What follows are quick cuts of a pork chop, a squirrel, a flock of geese and a man covered in mustard.

MTV Animation alum Chris Prynoski went back to his roots by once again creating a stylish opening sequence for the 2002 MTV Movie Awards. The show was produced by Austin Reading and executive produced by Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet. MTV commissioned Prynoski and his company, Titmouse Inc., to produce this year's Awards Show open after Titmouse delivered a successful graphics package for last year's show.

Guru animation studio just completed four 3D animated commercials for the Nabisco Planet Snak campaign. While the original spots in the three-year campaign had been hand drawn by guru sister studio Chuck Gamage Animation, agency FCB Toronto and their client Nabisco were looking to enrich the visuals, so they turned to guru's animators and rendering artists. To capture the look pioneered in the pilot commercial, guru used more cinematic camera work, atmospheric lighting and "animated" performances to help distinguish the campaign.

If you visited the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) in Los Angeles May 22-24, 2002, you may have come upon ComputerCafé's CGI cinematic presentations created for the debut of two of Electronic Arts' (EA) new videogames, COMMAND AND CONQUER GENERALS and EARTH AND BEYOND. For the massively multiplayer online adventure game EARTH AND BEYOND, ComputerCafé created 18 realistic CGI scenes of planetary exploration as seen through the eyes of the character Dewinter.

For a new campaign for submarine sandwich company Cousins, agency BVK/McDonald went to Hollywood-based production company Super 78 to create animated characters that could dance around Cousins' submarine sandwiches. "We had seven commercials to produce and, of course, limited resources," explained BVK/McDonald art director Scott Krahn. "Super 78 proposed the idea of using Flash animation for broadcast instead of 3D to stay consistent with the retro feel of the characters and to minimize costs.

Blur Studio has created computer animation showing Spider-Man pursuing his nemesis the Green Goblin in a wild chase through New York City for a new commercial for Toy Biz. Conceived by New York agency Berenter Greenhouse & Webster, the commercial promotes a new Spider-Man Web Shooter toy and mixes live action sequences with computer animation. The opening shot reveals Spider-Man swinging by a strand of web between the high-rises of a cityscape.

Film Roman Commercials and Special Projects division has produced animated opening title sequences, interstitials and several commercials promoting "Night Out On Sho Too," a Wednesday night program block featuring gay-themed movies, original series and specials. The animated spots, which are currently airing on Showtime, bring to life the characters featured in the retro, "tiki-lounge" style paintings by California-based artist Shag.

Animation production house Acme Filmworks and director Bill Plympton have hit a grand slam with three spots for Wilson Sporting Goods by way of ad agency Euro RSCG McConnaughty Tatham of Chicago. The three spots revolve around tennis players mistreated by opponents using a Wilson Triad tennis racket. Their experience on the court becomes so traumatizing that the athletes seek psychological help. "The agency had these psychological Freudian subconscious drawings," said director Bill Plympton. "The concept was to not make the drawings realistic.

Do bats and toucans get along in the wild? Apparently so in a new spot SimEx Digital Studios created for Kellogg’s Froot Loops cereal. SimEx provided live-action production, 2D and 3D animation, compositing and editing for the 30-second spot "Batty," which features FruitLoops spokesbird Toucan Sam encountering a cave full of hungry Froot Loops loving bats. Under the direction of SimEx director Jean Perramon, John Howley, Jae Kim and Tom Sito were responsible for creating cel animation with assistant animator Brett Newton and assistant director Ingin Kim.

Estonian animation studio A Film Estonia has recently completed the production of two animated "postcards" for the 47th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), which will be held on May 25, 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia. The postcards will be seen as two of the many interstitials shown between the competing songs during the European broadcast of ESC. The aim is to introduce different aspects of the host country.

Toronto-based animation and effects company Topix has recently completed the 3D animation for "Pump You Up" a new commercial for Scott Paper by way of agency Enterprise Creative Selling. In the spot, a procession of animated pillows enter a bathroom to get "pumped up" and transformed into softer and thicker versions of themselves to introduce a new line of Purex Ultra toilet tissue. Once they are soft and fluffy, the pillows enter the Purex packaging, only to be surprised by Mom as she enters the bathroom.

Santa Monica-based creative studio house R!OT provided digital visual effects and post-production services for a new national advertising spot for Mint Skittles from Mars. Conceived by D’Arcy, St. Louis, the commercial employs a fantasy scenario aimed at promoting the new product to adults. R!OT’s involvement included pre-production visual effects design, on-set visual effects supervision, film transfer, color correction, visual effects production and compositing. "Sirens" opens on a man hiking through a forest.