DARE is the latest single from Gorillaz's celebrity strewn DEMON DAYS CD, and this time round the video sees the cartoon heroes being joined by the head of Shaun Ryder. Compositing involving 3D backgrounds, 2D animation and live-action footage of Shaun Ryder's head had was by Passion Pictures and The Mill ran two Flame machines for three days to finished their portion of the work. As usual all the characters have been designed by the ferociously talented Jamie Hewlett.
Chief challenge for The Mill was the 22-second opening front-end before the video actually starts. Supplied in 10+ layers by Hewlett's company, Zombie Flesh Eaters, Flame artist Chris Knight spent two days putting it together, adding additional texture and depth in the shape of cloud and smoke to the original animations. Meanwhile, at the back-end, Rich Betts created an animation in Flame of Noodle from supplied 2D stills to add to the video's 80+ shots
A final DCP by Paul Harrison on Spirit worked as a mix down on all the disparate animated components, giving a concluding finesse and color balance to all the composites and providing the promo with its polished look and feel.
Artist: GorillazTitle: DARE
Production Company: Passion PicturesDirector: Pete Candeland/Jamie HewlettProducer: Emilie Walmsley
Post Production: The MillProducer: Ben HampshireTelecine: Paul Harrison: final DCPLead Flame: Chris KnightFlame Assist: Rich BettsKit: Flame, combustion and Spirit Telecine
The Mill (www.the-mill.com) specializes in high-end visual effects for commercials, music promos and television. Since 1990, The Mill has built an impressive client-base of some of the worlds best commercials directors, and advertising agencies handling accounts such as Levis, Pepsi, Guinness, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. In May 2002, The Mill opened in New York.
London-based Passion Pictures created 2D and 3D animated characters, commercials, music videos, short films and title sequences. For further information, check out www.passion-pictures.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
