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.

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.

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.

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.

Vinton Studios recently completed an animated spot for Kraft Foods' new Jell-O Gel Sticks via agency FCB/NY, combining stop-motion, cel animation and CG. The spot opens with a green Jell-O gel stick in the background while a 2D stick figure character looks at it and scratches his head. He moves in to investigate the massive gel stick, pokes it and whistles for his friends to join him. Two acrobatic stick figures jump up and down on the gel stick, then catapult off to form a wobbly stick figure pyramid.

MTV alum's Nick Litwinko and Peter Reichert have formed Rogue Creative, a commercial production company with interests in creative content development and documentaries. Rogue maintains offices in New York, Los Angeles and Seattle with a roster that includes many former MTV Animation creatives. Executive producer Nick Litwinko, based in New York, helped launch MTV Commercials in 1999, after almost a decade of work on various MTV series including BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, AEON FLUX and CARTOON SUSHI.

Santa Monica, California-based Threshold Digital Research Labs (TDRL) has produced and animated "Hershey's Really Big 3D Show," a feature-length original production showcasing 3D animation and presented in wide-screen 3D High Definition format with glasses and digital projection. The 40-minute show runs daily at Hershey's Chocolate World, located in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The show begins with a glimpse into the history of Hershey's chocolate and its advertising, with a lecture on the history of chocolate by the animated D. P. Quigley.

Animation and digital effects company SimEx Digital Studios has again teamed with ad agency Leo Burnett/Chicago to create a new spot for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Cereal. SimEx was responsible for completing 2D and 3D animation, compositing and editing for the 30-second spot titled "One Giant Kick," which features Tony the Tiger performing some moves on a soccer field. The spot shows how Tony goes from a tired tiger to a feline full of energy after eating a bowl of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.

Independent animation studio Wild Brain, Inc., has completed an animated commercial campaign for The Wall Street Journal promoting the redesign of the paper and the introduction of their new consumer-oriented "Personal Journal" section. San Francisco agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners conceived a combination live-action and animated spot and teamed with Wild Brain for the animation. The goal was to bring to life the proprietary stippled illustration style that has long been associated with the publication.

Visual effects and design company A52 has recently completed visual effects work for the latest Gatorade Ice spot via agency Element 79 Partners and director Phil Joanou. "Defining Mia," a 30-second spot that began airing on April 1, 2002, shows U.S. soccer star Mia Hamm on the field with Gatorade Ice in her veins. While she shoots for the winning goal, a sequence of X-ray shots shows the Ice at work inside her.