Believe it or not, baby animals could always be cuter and with the aid of a Flame suite, there's no limit to cuteness. When The Martin Agency and director Frank Todaro needed to add a little more personality to a baby pig and two nutty woodchucks for a pair of slapstick GEICO spots, they turned to the Click 3X team lead by CD/Flame Artist Mark Szumski, Lead Flame Artist Evan Schoonmaker and VFX Producer Chris Kiser.
Press Release from Click 3X
Believe it or not, baby animals could always be cuter and with the aid of a Flame suite, there's no limit to cuteness. When The Martin Agency and director Frank Todaro needed to add a little more personality to a baby pig and two nutty woodchucks for a pair of slapstick GEICO spots, they turned to the Click 3X team lead by CD/Flame Artist Mark Szumski, Lead Flame Artist Evan Schoonmaker and VFX Producer Chris Kiser.
In both Piggy and Woodchucks the seasoned VFX team gave mischievous facelifts to animatronic animals created by Legacy, adding subtle details and movements to bring out the critters' impish personalities.
"We gave them a bit more character and made them seem like real creatures," says Szumski. "The end result is more like a character animation piece rather than just a rigged animatronic puppet."
For Woodchucks, in which two rodents literally chuck a hapless farmer's woodpile into a pond, Szumski cloned a single woodchuck puppet, color corrected their fur to differentiate the twosome and then composited the plates on top of the log cabin. They also added more life to their eyes and created subtle body movements, such as jiggling bellies, to make the creatures appear more cuddly, and less callous.
With Piggy the team undertook a small VFX shoot to film the pinwheels a piglet is holding inside the car after crying "weeee" all the way home, much to the chagrin of the vehicle's driver. They also tweaked the color of his nose and eyes to up the cuteness factor.
In all, the job took just under a month to complete. One of the most gratifying parts of the gig, Szumski says was the collaborative process with the agency and veteran director Todaro, who spent a day with the Click 3X team. "He was great to work with," he says. "We spent some time adding little nuances to the characters to make them more expressive. We've done a ton of creature work so this job was pretty second nature for us. Both spots were fun to work on and we really enjoy working with The Martin Agency."Credits:
Client: GEICOSpot Title: Woodchuck, PiggyAir Date: September 2010
Agency: The Martin AgencySVP/Creative Director: Steve BassettSenior Art Director: Justin HarrisVP/Associate Creative Director: Wade AlgerVP/Executive Producer: Molly SouterAsst. Producer: Nicole Hollis-VitaleFinancial Coordinator: Megan McDermottSenior Integrated Prod. Bus. Mgr.: Amy TrenzTalent Business Supervisor: Suzanne WieringoSVP/Account Director: Chris MumfordAccount Supervisor: Liz TomsAccount Executive: Ben Creasey
Prod Company: Moxie PicturesDirector: Frank TodaroEP(s): Robert Fernandez, Lizzie SchwartzProducer: Laura HeflinProduction Supervisor: Valerie Thomas
Editorial: MacKenzie CutlerEditor: Ian MacKenzie
Post/Effects: Click 3XManaging Director: Jason MayoProducer: Chris KiserCreative Director/Flame Artist: Mark SzumskiLead Flame Artist: Evan SchoonmakerFlame Artist: Sophia AvgoustiFlame Artist: Joe VitaleFlame Artist: Kevin QuinlanFlame Artist: John Ciampa
Shoot Location: L.A.
About Click 3X:Click 3X and its interactive division ClickFire Media create engaging film, TV and web content. Working in tandem or autonomously, Click 3X shoots, edits, designs, animates and creates VFX, while ClickFire brings those disciplines into the interactive space. Click operates a full service, 11,000 square foot state of the art studio in Manhattan outfitted with 50 fulltime staffers.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
