Category: Commercials

Computer graphics house Island Fever Productions has completed two new commercials for Orkin's "fake-out" campaign. In this year's campaign, which like last years shows a pesky cockroach interrupting the viewing of two fake commercials, Island Fever Productions created the animation of the cockroach, all the additional animation and the final compositing for both commercials. The first faux commercial is for "Timmy Townsend P.I." in which Gary Coleman stars as a bumbling private eye. Island Fever created the CG logo treatment of flying streaking letters.

Colorado animation studio Celluloid has just completed work on two public service announcements for Earth Share, a federation of America's leading non-profit environmental and conservation organizations. Working with advertising agency Foote, Cone and Belding, director James Wahlberg and live-action production company Visitor, Celluloid, led by executive producer Jan Johnson and director Paniagiotis Rappas, provided the animation on both sixty-second spots. The first, titled "This Is," is based on a series of 30 paintings by designer Alan Brewer.

Creative firm ViewPoint Studios announced the completion of The Ultimate Gamer promotional spots for the upcoming Discovery Science Channel videogame information television series THE ELECTRIC PLAYGROUND. Using a combination of CGI, live-action and visual effects compositing, ViewPoint created the Ultimate Gamer with a jet pack, VR helmet, rocket skates, gamer attitude, humor and dynamic visuals in order to convey THE ELECTRIC PLAYGROUND as the place for video game enthusiasts to get needed secret skills and codes to conquer the electronic world.

Digital animation company Mixin Pixls has finished work on the 'Volcanologists' spot for the new Chevy S-10 crew cab 4x4 pickup. Mixin Pixls joined with Crew Cuts editor Bob Jenkis, Flying Tiger Films' director Robert Gordon and advertising agency Campbell-Ewald's creative team of John Haggerty, Steve Bolt and Matt Fera to produce the commercial. The spot introduces viewers to the hazards of a day-in-the-life of a group of volcanologists who are studying the activity of a nearby volcano. The volcano erupts and places the volcanologists in harm's way.

Santa Monica, California's SimEx Digital Studios has completed work on a new 30-second Kellogg's Frosted Flakes commercial. The artists at SimEx provided 2D animation, compositing and editing for the new Kellogg's spot, called "High Dive," starring Tony the Tiger. Director Jean Perramon's team created Tony in the famous "Tex Avery-style." The commercial revisits classic 1940s style animation while using snappy cuts to keep it fresh.

London-based Realise Studio has just completed a new commercial for the Royal Mail. Directed by Jon Hollis of 400 films, this special effects laden commercial is a departure from the Royal Mails current quirky campaign. The commercial features a series of transitions from a view of the world from space, to a guy sitting on his sofa in London reading a letter. Each start image is made up of 40,000 others. At a distance the thousands of images combine visually to make up the larger, composite one. As the camera zooms closer the composite one breaks apart.

REZN8, a design and animation production house, developed part of the opening sequence for the 73rd Annual Academy Awards telecast Sunday, March 25, 2001. REZN8 designed and created the special video segment that introduced Oscar host Steve Martin. Traveling through deep space, viewers were treated to animated radio signals and past Academy Award moments composited by the REZN8 graphics team over film footage. The opening culminates in a 3D NASA space station, modeled and animated by REZN8.

Vancouver-based Natterjack recently wrapped on three spots for the "Got milk?" campaign, featuring the Powerpuff Girls. "We were asked to create concentrated mini-episodes," said Steve Evangelatos, Natterjack's director, "with the girls battling their familiar foes: Mojo Jojo, Fuzzy Lumpkins and the Gangrene Gang." Each spot features a different girl to promote chocolate, banana and strawberry flavored milks. In all three spots, the villains unexpectedly threaten the supply of milk, until one of the girls saves the day. "When you see the ads, don't blink!