Commercials

Seeing Spots. London-based HRA completed "Eddie Spaghetti," a :30 for Heinz spaghetti and agency Leo Burnett, Chicago. The spot depicts the journey of a piece of spaghetti from plate to boy's mouth, inside of which a party is in progress. The ad, directed by Kim Burdon, features 3D computer animation, traditional cel animation, live-action, and puppetry . . . . J.J. Sedelmaier Productions, with J.J. Sedelmaier serving as director, produced a second Milton Bradley/Parker Brothers "Family Game Night" 30-second spot. The commercial features classic board games like Monopoly, Clue, and Scrabble. This incarnation is entitled "Special Night" and features the same child-like crayon style from the previous Milton Bradley spot. . . .The Mill, a London-based post house, finished a new Daewoo car spot. The 30-second commercial, entitled "Aerial Fantasy," is directed by Daniel Barber of Rose Hackney Barber and produced by Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters. The Mill's Flame artist, Jason Watts, set the piece to a base-booming mix of rock and rap music. The spot features the new Daewoo "Lanos" thrashing the world's largest skateboarding half pipe. The spot will air around Europe in November and arrive in England come January 2000. . . .New York animation studio, DMA with director Tony Caio finished two '60s-style spots for Zowie Intertainment, Inc. new fantasy game Ellie's Enchanted Garden. The commercial, featuring psychedelic-spinning wallpaper flowers and highly stylized gardens appearing around live-action actors, is aimed at attracting young girls to computer games. The spot started airing on Nickelodeon and other kid-friendly networks in early November. . . . London, England-based Animus Productions produced "Swept Away," a :60 spot for Bristol-Myers Squibb's Buspar medication. US-based Tony White is producing, directing and animating the spot for New York City-based agency Becker Inc. The spot highlights the emotional highs and lows of a woman who finds the stress of modern living too exhaustive and shows how she ultimately finds relief and relaxation through the "Buspar" medication. White is using fine pen line on paper, with hand-coloring using spirit marker pens. White will complete the bulk of the drawn animation at his Seattle, Washington-based home studio, then ship the completed artwork to London for additional drawing and color completion. Long term Animus partner and Director of Animation for the spot is Richard Burdett, and Executive Producer in New York is Rich Durkin of Ice Tea Productions. In addition to working on the Buspar commercial, White is finishing up his own animated musical TV special, The Gnashville Toonz, which is financed by the Nashville industry and through additional financiers in Kentucky and Israel. If successful, it is planned that the TV special will be developed into a full-length TV series following its debut on U.S. television. White is also currently researching and writing a companion book to his previous best-seller, The Animator's Workbook, a book on drawn animation techniques for both beginners and professionals alike. White hopes shortly to transfer his vast knowledge and experience of international award-winning technique to an online, AWN sponsored, animation training program, soon to be announced.