Troika Design Group recently wrapped a rebrand and the fall season promo campaign for ABC. The :60 and :30 spots features ABC network talent (including DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, GREY'S ANATOMY, LOST and UGLY BETTY) set against CG, show-specific environments.
This campaign marks the return of the big, talent-fueled brand spots of the past that typically premiered a few weeks before the start of the season to drum up excitement for its return to television. Troika produced five spots in all, including a :60 network anthem, a :60 primetime anthem and three :30 night-specific versions, all featuring ABC talent integrated in fun and engaging ways into CG environments that complement the respective shows.
Set to a remix of the song SEPTEMBER by Earth, Wind and Wire, the promos feature show-specific scenes that unfold seamlessly into the next to highlight all the characters and programs on ABC. This also provided ABC with a modular set of promos that can be used for individual show branding.
All told, Troika shot 80 of the network's stars and personalities during five live-action shoots over seven days -- four in Los Angeles and one in New York City -- including Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo from GREY'S ANATOMY, Donald Sutherland, Lucy Liu and Peter Krause from DIRTY SEXY MONEY, and up-and-coming stars Lee Pace and Anna Friel from the Emmy-nominated PUSHING DAISIES. Even Digby, the golden retriever featured on the show, makes a recurring cameo in the spot, and closes out the brand spot with a jaunty bark at the ABC logo and "start here" tagline. Randy Roberts was tapped by Troika to direct the brand campaign.
The ABC rebrand and brand campaign leveraged Troika's high-production pipeline. A post production team of 28 people worked over eight weeks, including three Autodesk Maya artists and a team of compositors running two Autodesk Flame systems for double shifts over four weeks. Troika's toolkit also included Apple Final Cut Pro with Twister for time remapping and an 80 core render farm to handle the 3D processing. An Apple Xsan shared disk file system connected everything over fiber and Ethernet.
ABC's fall season starts Friday, September 19.
Credits:
Executive Creative Director: Dan PappalardoExecutive Producer: Kristen OlsenProducer: Chris GernonDesigner/Art Director: Earl JenshusProducer: Kelley McDermott and Jess FergusonCoordinator: Christopher BelangerEditor: Chris GernonFlame/Compositor : Jeff Heusser, Maribeth Emigh, Andy Edwards and Matt Trivan3D Animator/CG Artist: Jason Mortimer, Cory Strassburger, Candida Nunez, Adrian Dimond and Jeff SargeantAnimator: Jun Kim and Jim McDanielsTracker: Michael Moorehouse Assistant Editor: Marisol Mcllvain2nd Assistant Editor: Jeff HayfordStoryboard Artist: Chad Glass, Kaz Mayeda and Elizabeth ColombaPre-Viz: Loose Cannon Factory
Live Action:Executive Producer: Jim RicheDirector: Randy RobertsCreative Director: Dale EverettDP: Andrew DintenfassLine Producer: Chris Stoerchle
