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Shade Inspires Great Transformation in Murphy's Spot

St. Patrick's Day is a time of great celebration and Irish cheer, a sentiment perfectly embodied in an AICP Award-winning spec spot for Murphy's beer with transformational postproduction led by Shade Founder and VFX Director Bryan Godwin.

Murphy's

Press Release from Shade

St. Patrick's Day is a time of great celebration and Irish cheer, a sentiment perfectly embodied in an AICP Award-winning spec spot for Murphy's beer with transformational postproduction led by Shade Founder and VFX Director Bryan Godwin. Working in collaboration with Director Matt Fischman - who sets the spot in an old-timey Irish Pub - Godwin works a CG miracle in transforming a dark-skinned bar patron into a full-blooded, pale Irishman over the course of drinking his brew.

After the bartender serves a frothy Murphy's to our hero protagonist, he slowly becomes a little more Irish with each swig: he takes one drink, his skin noticeably lightens; the barkeep passes, the customer's hairline recedes; he takes another drink, his sideburns lengthen; a third drink, his moustache spirals into a curlicue shape; the bartender passes again, the man's face is bloated. Finally, the fully transformed beer lover downs the last of his beverage and stumbles off his barstool and into the night.

Working with Nuke, Godwin and his team created all the effects - working through multiple iterations of each transformation, finely adjusting the skin tone for consistency, and carefully pacing the action. In order to achieve the pitch-perfect comedic effect, the facial hair transformation had to be completed not only on the original actor, but also on the man he transforms into, who was clean-shaven in the original cut. Throughout the spot, Shade seamed up the plates, soft matted the actor into the background, and integrated the footage with wipes to reveal each scene.

Working under heavy time and budgetary constraints, Shade worked closely with Fischman to seamlessly integrate the VFX with the director's live-action footage. "This project was a great opportunity to get our name out there and really show what we could do, even with limited resources," noted Godwin. "I like things to be a little bit messy; I like them to be funny; I like them to have heart, and I think that comes through in all of our work. I think the world of CG tends to be a cold, hard place, and we strive to change that one project at a time."

Credits:Client: Murphy'sSpots Title: Turning IrishAir Date: Spec

Director: Matt FischmanDP: Jas SheltonProduction Designer: Diana ZengCopywriter: Scott M. Kaplan

Editorial: OPTIMUSEditor: Justin Amore

Post/Effects: ShadeVFX Director: Bryan GodwinCG Supervisor: Dan DixonVFX Producer: David Van DykeProduction Manager: Sheri PattersonVFX Coordinator: Shane PaughAnimator: Greg BreitzmanCompositor: Carlos Morales

About Shade:Santa Monica-based Shade, founded in 2009 by company principal and award-winning VFX Director Bryan Godwin, is a leader in the short-form CG market. The studio is defined by its flexible nature and ability to bring feature film-quality pipelines and workflows to short-format projects in collaboration with outside production companies, providing director- and agency-focused VFX in a comfortable, interactive creative environment that brings their vision to life from planning (boards, animatics), to production (VFX planning, on-set supervision), to post (editorial, animation, effects).

Shade has developed a custom, in-house suite of software that facilitates rapid work flow and maximum flexibility to produce top-quality work more efficiently and cost-effectively than their larger competitors. The current A-level talent roster includes CG/VFX Supervisor Dan Dixon, Head of Production Sheri Patterson, EP Amy Massingale-Hassler, Technical Director John Riddle, and Animator Greg Breitzman. The VES-affiliated team's notable recent efforts include campaigns for Time Warner and Hewlett Packard.

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Rick DeMott
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