From their gleaming new space in Manhattans SoHo neighborhood, Framestore NYs team of artists recently manifested WORKDAY and TRIPLETS, new visual effects-driven spots in the ongoing high-profile Cingular Wireless More Bars in More Places campaign.
The TV ads were lensed by director Scott Hicks (SHINE) and cinematographer Wally Pfister (BATMAN BEGINS and MEMENTO). WORKDAY aired in February and TRIPLETS began airing this month. Each spot carries the same theme, demonstrating Cingular Wirelesss new mantra that people can use their mobile phone anywhere. Familiar environments, from outdoors to urban, feature random incidents that form the structure of the now famously recognizable five cell phone bars look.
Framestore NY summoned its visual effects expertise to create both in-your-face and more subtle five bars events in the most happenstance places: in WORKDAY, viewers see five trains arranged in rising order, five lines of city cabs form the five bar style, and in Manhattan five piers jut into the East River.
In TRIPLETS, outdoor landscapes figure prominently to shape more Cingular cell phone bars. Framestore NY tracked and reconfigured live-action footage of Tucson desert cactuses to form five bars, and three real mountains get two additional CG-created mountain siblings in the visual effects companys re-envisioning of the desert landscape. In the final scene, triplets step up to a home where five windows feature window blinds pulled to the familiar five-bars lengths. Tools utilized were Maya, flame and Bijou tracking software.
London-based Framestore CFC (www.framestore.com) opened its New York office in 2003, with the aim of building on its burgeoning international reputation with US agencies. 2004 saw the New York office going from strength to strength, with spots created for Ambien, Bacardi, Skittles, the Maryland Lotto, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Choice Hotels International and Baileys Irish Cream. Early this year, Framestore NY relocating to a new premises on Spring Street, SoHo, complete with roof meadow.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
