Commercials

"Disco," a spot for Sol Beer.
Courtesy of The Attik.

A spot for Cold-Eeze by Aargh! Animation. Courtesy of Aargh! Animation.

Seeing Spots. New York City-based The Attik has completed two :30 spots for Sol Beer and agency Amster Yard. In "Disco" a beer acts as a disco ball, emitting strobing lights. In "Rock N Roll" the can emits electrical charges, creating a pulsing energy field. James Sommerville directed, and both spots were created with After Effects, Infinity, Studio Pro and Media 100. Julie Watkins of New York City-based Manhattan Transfer completed the composite in Inferno. . . Orlando, Florida-based Aargh! Animation, Inc. is co-producing a series of :10 and :30 spots for Cold-Eeze cold medicine that combines live-action with cel animation. Mark Simon and Dave Kallaher directed the animation. The three :10 spots consist of a cel animated plane that swoops into frame over a six layer multi-plane of moving clouds. The computer generated product packages fly out of the plane and are presented close to camera. In the :30 spots, live-action passengers on a plane turn into animated caricatures of themselves when they sneeze. The scenes were shot with a motion control camera on a 747 jet mock-up at Disney/MGM Studios in Orlando. AARGH! rotoscoped the animation, while giving it a cartoony flair, which was then composited over a combination of the live-action and the clean plate. David Nixon of David Nixon Productions directed the live-action. . .

Tricky Pictures' "Hello Kitty." Courtesy of Tricky Pictures.

Chicago, Illinois-based Tricky Pictures has completed "Hello Kitty," a :30 spot for Target Stores and Minneapolis, Minnesota-based agency Peterson Milla Hooks. Tricky Pictures used After Effects to composite the live-action footage and the animated characters. Bruce Alcock directed the spot. . . New York City-based The Attik created the visual style and animation for "Sailing the Globe" and "Getting Ready," two :30 spots designed to showcase the John Player Goldleaf Voyage of Discovery, during which a sailboat traveled to 17 countries in 170 days. The Attik added animated nautical imagery to live-action footage, shot by Los Angeles-based Robert Steadman, of the real John Player Goldleaf cigarettes sailboat. . .

The Attik created the visual style for the John Player Goldleaf spots. Courtesy of The Attik.

Santa Monica, California-based Simex Digital Studios has completed the computer animation for "Glitch," a spot for Repairnow.com, an Internet resource site. West Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues produced the spot for ad agency Millenium Communications, and Richard Taylor directed it. The spot depicts the impact of a mini whirlwind of destruction, which is named "Glitch," as it passes through VCRs, CD players, and other household items. . . Copenhagen, Denmark-based A.Film has completed "Jumbo Book," a :30 for Disney Scandinavia. The spot touts Jumbo, a collection of Donald Duck comics. The spot mixes 2D animation and live-action. In the spot, a live-action maid stumbles across all sorts of 2D animated figures including Donald Duck's beak, Uncle Scrooge's hat, etc. The figures tease and provoke the maid into opening a closet from which spill hundreds of Donald Duck comic books, burying the maid. Live-action was directed by Michael Hegner and animation was directed by Craig Frank. . .

"The Challenge" by Acme Filmworks.
Courtesy of Acme Filmworks.

"IronKid 'n Wheel Skiddin'" by Acme Filmworks.
Courtesy of Acme Filmworks.

West Hollywood, California-based Ring Of Fire completed the visual effects for two spots for the new Infiniti I30 luxury sedan and agency TBWA Chiat/Day. For "Rain" Ring of Fire added time-lapse clouds, individually rotoscoped each raindrop and added visual enhancements to the car and its environment. For "Aspens" they created the mirror's reflection, composited clouds and birds in trees, and added shadows to the trees. . . Copenhagen, Denmark-based A.Film has finished a :40 spot for Daloon Spring Rolls, Denmark's largest Chinese frozen food manufacturer. In the spot, which unveils a new product called Funsters, a dragon, called "daloon" in Danish, presents the product like a wise and distinguished old man, but the children's crazy antics off-screen cause him to lose his cool. The CGI spot was animated using 3D Studio Max with a few live-action props. Craig Frank directed. The word from Denmark is that after the spot aired for three weeks, the product sold out. . . Hollywood, California-based Acme Filmworks has completed two :30 spots. In "The Challenge," a live-action commercial for commemorative Pepsi cans that promote the return of the Cleveland Browns to competition, images of football plays appear in the stormy sky above Cleveland Browns player Chris Spielman who asks the viewer, "So are you ready to be a Browns fan?" The visual effects were composed, layered and rendered using Adobe Photoshop and After Effects. Scott Ingalls directed the spot for Dallas, Texas-based agency, TLP. "IronKid 'n Wheel Skiddin'," a commercial for IronKids Bread, brings to life the idea "just IronKiddin' around" with many fast-paced animated scenes, from bicycling to volleyballin' to soccer kickin'. The commercial used twenty-three styles of animation including photo manipulation, cut-out, puppet, cel, color pencil, rotoscoping, and clay. Scott Ingalls directed for Dallas, Texas-based agency Publicis.