yU + CO, in collaboration with Digital Domain, provided the motion graphics
design for seven new American Express "Blue" commercials. The titles appear
at the close of the spots as a grouping of light and dark squares, as in a
highly pixilated image, before coming into focus as letters. The titles
where designed to comment on the physical flexibility and the holographic
blue box center of the new card. Garson Yu was designer and director for yU
DIGITAL DOMAIN helped Plum Productions create a virtual jungle/city for the
new Fiat Punto spots. Plum Productions' director Eric Saarinen worked with
Digital Domain's visual effects supervisor Paul Kirsch to create a city
full of people riding around on lion, tigers, and bears. The Punto drives
in showing how different it is compared to the other animals on the street.
Digital Domain had the complex job of combining five-days of greenscreen
shooting on the Paramount backlot into a coherent flow. "We made the
Kellogg's Froot Loops spokesman Toucan Sam comes to life with help from
Santa Monica-based SIMEX STUDIOS for a new spot entitled "Time Flies." The
spot highlights the new 2000 Marshmallow Blasted Froot Loops by blasting
Toucan Sam through the air with an explosion of marshmallow "2s". SimEx
produced the spot for ad agency Leo Burnett of Chicago. The SimEx team on
the commercial was animation producer Christina Cox, animation director
Jean Perramon, live-action producer Bob McGinness and live-action director
Toronto-based TOPIX/MAD DOG provided the CG images for "Flying Ball" for
Sears' new Poke-Mart. The 30 and 20 spots were produced for Young &
Rubicam. POKEMON hero, Ash, throws the famous Poke-ball which leads
children like lemmings to Sears' Poke-Mart section to catch all the new
Pokemon products. Diana D'Amelio produced and Patrick Coffey animated the
tags for TOPIX/Mad Dog.
New York-based SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION produced the 3D animation and visual
FXs for the newest Proctor & Gamble's Millstone Coffee spots. The 30 second
and two 15 second commercials entitled "Own the Mug" features a ceramic
coffee cup morphing into a boat. The spots were produced for New York ad
agency D'Arcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles. Tony Robins directed and Simone
Pillinger produced the commercials for Spontaneous Combustion. The spots
will continue to air through April 2000.
RING OF FIRE provided the fx for the newest Ericsson T-28 mobile phone ad
entitled "Aliens." Ring of Fire produced the spot for Stockholm ad agency
Hall & Cederquist. The international 30 second spot beams down aliens to a
man deserted on an island. The aliens mistake the phone for intelligent
life (like most humans do in Los Angeles) and wonder whether or not the
device will taste like chicken. Jerry Spivack was Creative Director for
Ring of Fire and Kevin Prendiville served as Visual Effects Supervisor.
New York-based EYEBALL created 10 second ID tags for seven USA Network
shows including: BAYWATCH, LA FEMME NIKITA, XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS and LAW
AND ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT. A circular frame opens around footage from
the USA program as the tag line "You Are Here" appears amidst flag stripes
and flashes. Brighter colors were used for the more light-hearted shows,
while a grittier mood was created for the more serious dramas. Daniel Fries
was the Creative Director at Eyeball.
New York-based IXL DIGITAL VIDEO GROUP, a subsidiary of the Internet and
video solutions company iXL, Inc., produced four distinct openings for the
new 20/20 weekly line-up. Each version of the news show is on four separate
nights and features different hosts. The openings mirror the style of each
version of the show and feature different takes on the 20/20 and ABC News
logos. iXL's veteran Designer and Animator Ron Wissing worked closely with
ABC'S Art Director Kelly Clauson on the concept for the openings.
Popeye the Sailor makes his newest appearance in the Toronto-based
TOPIX/MAD DOG, Chuck Gammage Animation and Generator Film produced spot for
Campbell's Soup. The 30 second spot for new Chunky Prime Rib features
integrated 3D animation, live-action and cel animation. Our hero Popeye
opts for a can of Chunky soup over his standard spinach to save the lovely
Olive Oyl. The spot was produced for Toronto-based ad agency Young &
Rubicam. TOPIX/Mad Dog producer Anne Deslauriers oversaw the 3D animation
Florida, U.S.-based AARGH! ANIMATION, Inc., one of the largest independentcel animation houses, has produced a series of national spots for Cold-Eezecold medicine that combine live-action with cel animation. The celanimation was directed by Mark Simon and Dave Kallaher of AARGH! Nowrunning and continuing through the cold season, these spots, three :10spots and two :30 spots, are running in heavy rotation on major U.S.networks. The spots feature live-action actors whose sneezes morph theminto animated characters.
London-based production company AKA PIZAZZ and Internet designers EDWARDSCHURCHER have announced the arrival of the world's first fully interactiveanimated commercial for Compaq. Following on from AKA's recent animated TVcampaign for Compaq, the interactive Web version of "Bird" was created byNeil Churcher, James Stone, and Javier Garcia Flynn of EDWARDS CHURCHER.The spot is now available on the Compaq website. The commercial features afully interactive, realtime animation in which one's cursor movements
Director/designer Jerry van de Beek and co-designer Betsy de Fries ofLITTLE FLUFFY CLOUDS, the San Francisco digital animation and designstudio, finished an all CGI commercial for Lugz athletic shoes entitled"Annakii." The 30-second spot features a video game like scenario, repletewith a hip-hop soundtrack, where the hero moves through a futuristic NewYork City.
TROLLBACK & CO., a newly formed visual effects and design studio, finisheda new spot for ROWECOM, a start-up internet service company. The commercialfeatures a fast-paced mix of books, maps and other layered images in conjunction withlive action footage by director Elena Colombo. The spot was produced for thecreative team at Boston-based McKay Communications. The spot started airing October18 on CNBC North America and Europe (including the United Kingdom).
To introduce KELLOGG's new Cereal & Milk Bars for Leo BurnettInternational-London, England, TOPIX/MAD DOG completed the 3D animatedproduct demo and box sequences, and integrated them within 2D animation fora vibrant :30 spot. The commercial began its global run in the UK, France,and Ireland in October. The spot will make its debut in Germany, Mexico,Iceland, Belgium, and possibly Canada in the new year.
INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC just finished up the new Will Smith video WILL2K forColumbia Records and Sony Pictures. Robert Caruso directed the vid that sendsmega-star Will Smith on a Millenium eve time traveling spree. The futuristiceffects were created with ILM's newest motion capture software.
Read Heather Kenyon's interview with ILM's Seth Rosenthal in AnimationWorld Magazine.
New York animation studio, DMA with director Tony Caio finished up two'60s-style spots for Zowie Intertainment, Inc. new fantasy game ELLIE'SENCHANTED GARDEN. The commercial, featuring psychedelic-spinning wallpaperflowers and highly stylized gardens appearing around live-action actors, isaimed at attracting young girls to computer games. The spot started airingon Nickelodeon and other kid-friendly networks in early November.
J.J. SEDELMAIER PRODUCTIONS, with J.J. Sedelmaier serving as director, hasproduced a second Milton Bradley/Parker Brothers "Family Game Night"30-second spot. The commercial features classic board games like Monopoly,Clue, and Scrabble. This incarnation is entitled "Special Night" andfeatures the same child-like crayon style from the previous Milton Bradleyspot.
THE MILL, a London-based post house, recently finished up a new Daewoo carspot. The 30-second commercial, entitled "Aerial Fantasy," is directed byDaniel Barber of Rose Hackney Barber and produced by Duckworth Finn GrubbWaters. The Mill's Flame artist Jason Watts set the piece to a base-boomingmix of rock and rap music. The spot features the new Daewoo "Lanos"thrashing the world's largest skateboarding half pipe. The spot will airaround Europe in November and arrive in England come January 2000.
London-based HRA has completed "Eddie Spaghetti," a :30 for Heinzspaghetti and agency Leo Burnett, Chicago. The spot depicts the journey ofa piece of spaghetti from plate to boy's mouth, inside of which a party isin progress. The ad, directed by Kim Burdon, features 3D computeranimation, traditional cel animation, live-action, and puppetry.
Copenhagen, Denmark-based A.FILM has finished a :40 spot for Daloon SpringRolls, Denmark's largest Chinese frozen food manufacturer. In the spot,which unveils a new product called Funsters, a dragon, called "daloon" inDanish, presents the product like a wise and distinguished old man, but thechildren's crazy antics off-screen cause him to lose his cool. The CGI spotwas animated using 3D Studio Max with a few live-action props. Craig Frankdirected. The word from Denmark is that after the spot aired for threeweeks, the product sold out.
Hollywood, California-based ACME FILMWORKS has completed two :30 spots. In"The Challenge," a live-action commercial for commemorative Pepsi cans thatpromote the return of the Cleveland Browns to competition, images offootball plays appear in the stormy sky above Cleveland Browns player ChrisSpielman who asks the viewer, "So are you ready to be a Browns fan?" Thevisual effects were composed, layered and rendered using Adobe Photoshopand After Effects. Scott Ingalls directed the spot for Dallas, Texas-based
West Hollywood, California-based RING OF FIRE completed the visual effectsfor two spots for the new Infiniti I30 luxury sedan and agency TBWAChiat/Day. For "Rain" Ring of Fire added time-lapse clouds, individuallyrotoscoped each raindrop and added visual enhancements to the car and itsenvironment. For "Aspens" they created the mirror's reflection, compositedclouds and birds in trees, and added shadows to the trees.
Santa Monica, California-based SIMEX DIGITAL STUDIOS has completed thecomputer animation for "Glitch," a spot for Repairnow.com, an Internetresource site. West Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues produced the spot forad agency Millenium Communications, and Richard Taylor directed it. Thespot depicts the impact of a mini whirlwind of destruction, which is named"Glitch," as it passes through VCRs, CD players, and other household items.
Copenhagen, Denmark-based A.FILM has completed "Jumbo Book," a :30 forDisney Scandinavia. The spot touts JUMBO, a collection of Donald Duckcomics. The spot mixes 2D animation and live-action. In the spot, alive-action maid stumbles across all sorts of 2D animated figures includingDonald Duck's beak, Uncle Scrooge's hat, etc. The figures tease and provokethe maid into opening a closet from which spill hundreds of Donald Duckcomic books, burying the maid. Live-action was directed by Michael Hegnerand animation was directed by Craig Frank.
New York City-based THE ATTIK created the visual style and animation for"Sailing the Globe" and "Getting Ready," two :30 spots designed to showcasethe John Player Goldleaf Voyage of Discovery, during which a sailboattraveled to 17 countries in 170 days. The Attik added animated nauticalimagery to live-action footage, shot by Los Angeles-based Robert Steadman,of the real John Player Goldleaf cigarettes sailboat.
