The visually explosive music video promotion for Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice 2008 Awards currently leaping off the small screen features animation and visual effects by Los Angeles studio Roger.
Comic actor and Kids' Choice host Jack Black stars in the video singing "Jack is Back" to AC/DC's famous rock anthem and taking viewers on a journey of wild imaginings that plunges Jack into a fully animated gooey world.
This CG world, designed by Roger in collaboration with Nickelodeon and Liam Lynch, reflects Roger's diverse palette of techniques including 2D, 3D, Flash and hand-drawn animation.
The project began with a rough animatic with general direction from Director Liam Lynch. The previs involved Roger-designed panoramic storyboards of the cityscape and main environments, followed by bringing the Nick brand to five different Hollywood environments including the red carpet, a city view, and Hollywood Hills mansion.
From there, Roger used Final Cut 6 to edit the footage, sculpting the momentum and ensuring the pacing worked. They then created an animatic with audio, footage and the storyboards.
Animatic complete, the Roger animation team swung into production: A compositor used Apple's Shake 4 to create mattes and track the live action footage, while the art director/lead animator served as the hub for all elements ensuring consistency of animation, color and tone.
The animation team created elements in Adobe After Effects and Adobe Flash CS3 -- chosen for its hand-drawn quality -- which were composited into the final scenes.
"We love working with Nickelodeon and Liam Lynch and this project was especially cool," says Roger Creative Director Terence Lee. "They both gave us room to experiment, and push the concept to discover all of the creative possibilities."
View the promo at
www.roger.tv/post/jack_is_back.html . The awards show airs at 8 p.m. March 29 on Nickelodeon.
Roger is dedicated to "loud and clear" communication inspired by the classic expression, "Roger that!" Roger infuses enthusiasm, energy and creativity into every project. For more information and to view the studio's work visit
www.roger.tv .
