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Archive for December, 2009

Jack Daniel’s “Label Story” Calls For Brand New School

Posted by cgnews On December - 21 - 2009

The artists and producers from directing collective Brand New School recently announced the debut of their latest project work, a collaboration with advertising agency Arnold Worldwide, for Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey.

Jack Daniels Label Story Calls For Brand New School jdno7 train

The “Label Story” campaign features cinema/broadcast spots and arena executions for exhibition at select major sporting events, all of which were created by Brand New School. Among these elements, the cinema/broadcast spots spot “Old No. 7,” recently debuted in high-profile cable and broadcast outlets. Two additional spots, “Tennessee” and “Proud” are to follow.

Resolving at the end on the “What the label doesn’t tell you, a sip will” tag line, each new spot literally takes the brand’s iconic, ornate label artwork on a lyrical, cinematic journey to visually explore legendary Jack Daniel’s folklore. “Within the label’s calligraphic, high contrast, etching-inspired imagery, some of the brand’s most compelling stories are presented in a moving narrative context,” said Brand New School founder and creative director Jonathan Notaro, who directed the spots.

“Arnold had a really strong sense of where they wanted to be with these stories, where the brand’s unique artwork and filigree come to life stylistically. We really enjoyed being able to work together from the early stages to bring the agency’s vision to life.”

With Brand New School’s reputation for creating powerful experiential and interactive content expanding rapidly, Notaro and his colleagues are also very proud that the look created for this campaign’s cinema/TV ads is penetrating other advertising spaces, to include the arena executions.

“There’s a lot of mutual respect between us and our friends at Arnold,” Notaro concluded. “From this trust and understanding came some great work.”

With offices in New York and Los Angeles, Brand New School is a bicoastal directing collective working in all fields of commercial art. Ever evolving, the studio continues to cultivate a sense of wonder and exploration. For its artists and clients alike, BNS represents an opportunity to play at work, to conduct experiments in image-making, and to feed the inspiration that drives the industry.

Jack Daniels Label Story Calls For Brand New School jdno7 girl

PROJECT CREDITS
JACK DANIEL’S “LABEL STORY”

Campaign: Jack Daniel’s “Label Story”
Spot Titles: “Old Number 7″ :30, “Tennessee” :30, “Proud” :15

Client: Jack Daniel’s

Advertising Agency: Arnold
City/State: Boston, Mass.
Chief Creative Officer: Pete Favat
Creative Directors: Wade Devers, Wade Paschall
Associate Creative Directors: Lee Walters, Chad Leitz
Executive Producer: Billy Near
Assistant Producer: Reaghan Puleo
Account Director: Chris Ferko
Business Manager: Maria Rougvie

Production: Brand New School
City/State: Bicoastal, USA
Director: Jonathan Notaro
Art Directors: Mario Stipinovich, Eric Conception
Designers: Ricardo Villavicencio, Stephen Kelleher, Emmett Dzieza
CG Lead: Vadim Turchin
3D Animation: Eric Concepcion, Han Ho, Mike Garcia, Walter Lubinski, Kim Kehoe, Andre Salyer, Carmine Laietta, Adam Rosenzweig, Dave LoGiudice, John Kalagian
2D Animation: Stieg Retlin
Storyboard Artists: Will Rosado
Compositor: Eric Concepcion, Dave LoGiudice, Michal Finegold
Executive Producer: Danny Rosenbloom
Head of Production: Devin Brook
Producer: Toby Sowers, Mike Sullo
Production Coordinator: Ilona Klaver

Original Music: The Lodge
City/State: New York, NY
Creative Directors: Eric Hillebrecht & Colin Thibadeau
Composer “Tennessee”: Ronan Coleman
Composers “Old Number 7″: Alex Weinstein
Composers “Proud”: Demian Sims
Executive Producer: Sallie Moore
Producer: Heather Weisberg

RELATED LINKS
www.brandnewschool.com

Popularity: 15% [?]

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MAXON CINEMA 4D Takes Blu-ray Star Trek Out of This World

Posted by cgnews On December - 17 - 2009

MAXON Computer, a leading developer of professional 3D modeling, painting, animation, and rendering solutions, today announced that the advanced 3D matte painting and texturing capabilities of MAXON’s CINEMA 4D were used to recreate backgrounds in high definition for release of the original Star Trek television series on Blu-ray Disc.

MAXON CINEMA 4D Takes Blu ray Star Trek Out of This World  themenagerie
The Menagerie: This extended scene created in CINEMA 4D for “The Menagerie” episode was crafted around the original footage of the crew (pictured in the lower right-hand corner).

Relying primarily on CINEMA 4D’s BodyPaint 3D texturing capabilities, acclaimed matte painter Max Gabl worked closely with CBS Digital over the course of nearly two years to restore and update visual effects for the legendary ’60s series. Seasons 1 and 2 of Star Trek: The Original Series Re-mastered (Star Trek TOS-R) were released by CBS/Paramount Home Entertainment earlier this year; Season 3 went on sale December 15th.

Working under the direction of Star Trek: The Next Generation art director Michael Okuda, longtime Star Trek producer Dave Rossi, and visual effects supervisor Neil Wray, Gabl was tasked with elevating production values across all 54 episodes, which contain many original shots that were filmed with very simple lighting setups and hastily painted and poorly lit backdrops. Gabl deployed BodyPaint 3D as a core software application to bring the look of backgrounds up to present-day high-definition standards, recreating 33 establishing shots and scene extensions, as well as 47 planets and several paintings of nebulae and other planetary system objects.

A key creative challenge was the complete lack of data crucial for visual effects content creation, such as camera type and focal lens that are used to match the virtual camera to the scene. “I quickly realized that successfully bringing elements such as matte paintings of planetary objects from the original series into an HD format and maintaining the visual integrity of the iconic television series would necessitate a 3D software solution that offers stability and customization,” Gabl said. “CINEMA 4D with BodyPaint 3D is the ideal solution for matte and texture painters. It offers numerous workflow advantages that are key to maintaining high production standards on a long-term project of this magnitude, and the interface is well designed, stable and extremely easy to use and customize.”

Gabl, whose credits include Stealth, Flags Of Our Fathers, Racing Stripes, and Pushing Daisies (see www.maxgabl.com/Content/Matte_Paintings.html), created many of the matte paintings of the buildings and planets from scratch (3D model to final render) directly in CINEMA 4D. He also worked in some cases with models built by other artists at CBS Digital, which he imported into the application to light, texture, and render. Some of the paintings were completely new overview shots while others were crafted around original Star Trek footage, with subtle enhancements blended into existing images.

MAXON CINEMA 4D Takes Blu ray Star Trek Out of This World  cloudminders
Cloudminders: Wink Of An Eye: The finished matte painting for “Wink Of An Eye” was rendered in CINEMA 4D and touched up in BodyPaint 3D and Photoshop.

CINEMA 4D’s modular design was a major factor in Gabl’s ability to complete the project efficiently. “Being able to select the modules I needed as I needed them kept the interface uncluttered, lending itself to a fast workflow,” he said. “The Projection Man feature was especially handy, affording quick setup of camera projections while allowing me to look directly at the textured 3D object when touching up textures and seams in painting mode. Virtual set creation is uncomplicated, allowing me to switch back and forth between modeling, projection painting and texturing within the same application.”

“We’re thrilled that Max chose to rely on MAXON’s animation and texturing solutions to handle this challenging project,” said Paul Babb, president, MAXON USA. “Star Trek is among the most venerated and beloved television series ever made, and with the high resolution afforded by the Blu-ray format, the original backdrops might have detracted from viewer enjoyment. Instead, with the help of CINEMA 4D with BodyPaint3D, Max and his colleagues at CBS Digital were able to update the series beautifully for HD, allowing millions of fans to enjoy the show to the fullest.”

To create the large number of planet matte paintings required the creative team to identify basic concepts such as Earth-like with large, dark mountain ranges, pink skies, poles, swirly clouds, etc., usually based on shots in each Star Trek episode, which included at least some features of the planet that viewers could see. Gabl used a NASA template to start modeling each planet, manipulating the textures in BodyPaint 3D until he had approximated the “look”. The dimensionality of each planet’s surface was achieved using data gathered from geological Web sites for the displacement maps, to create elements such as mountains and other terrain.

Over the course of the project, Gabl built an extensive library of textures that could be modified, as needed, allowing him to turn a blue ocean green or vegetation from green to brown, saving much needed production time. “By using BodyPaint 3D I could paint textures directly onto the planets and see the results right away rather than having to wait for them to render before entering Photoshop which proved to be a real time-saver,” said Gabl, adding that the planets rendered at 4000 x 4000 pixels. While Gabl worked on planets and establishing shots, another team of modelers, animators and texture artists worked almost exclusively on a new CGI version of the fictional starship, Starship Enterprise. Once the various matte painting elements were finished, CBS Digital’s team of compositors inserted them into the footage for the finished look.

About CINEMA 4D
MAXON CINEMA 4D is a professional 3D software package offering everything needed to create high-end 3D images and animations for film, broadcast, architecture, and engineering. Continuing a two-decade tradition of excellence, CINEMA 4D 11.5 offers spectacular image quality and an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that puts professional results within reach of artists at all levels of CGI experience. CINEMA 4D 11.5 delivers speed and productivity by taking advantage of the latest advances in processor technology, and its modular design allows configurations tailored to the distinct needs of specialized 3D markets.

About MAXON Computer
MAXON Computer is a developer of professional 3D modeling, painting, animation and rendering solutions. Its award-winning CINEMA 4D and BodyPaint 3D software products have been used extensively to help create everything from stunning visual effects in top feature films, TV shows and commercials, cutting-edge game cinematics for AAA games, as well for medical illustration, architectural and industrial design applications. MAXON has offices in Germany, USA, United Kingdom, France and Japan. MAXON products are available directly from the Website and its worldwide distribution channel. Specially priced learning editions of the company’s software solutions are also made available to educational institutions.

www.maxon.net

Popularity: 16% [?]

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Method Journeys to Solar System for Black Eyed Peas

Posted by cgnews On December - 16 - 2009

Visual effects studio Method recently collaborated with Little Minx director Ben Mor on the music video for the Black Eyed Peas Billboard Top 10 hit, Meet Me Halfway. The video dispatches the four members of the Black Eyed Peas to different corners of the solar system: Fergie languors in a lush jungle, willi.i.am rides an elephant on a moon of Jupiter, apl.de.ap levitates above the ground of a desert planet, and Taboo hovers at the surface of the sun, wearing an astronaut suit.

Method Journeys to Solar System for Black Eyed Peas bep gold

As they sing longingly about their desire to be together again, will.i.am unlocks a portal that appears in each location. The Peas step through the portal and the video ends with a shot of four comets careening through the Earth’s atmosphere.

Mor shot the footage on partial sets built on blue screen and left it up to Method to extend the environments, from the desolate moonscape to the verdant jungle to the looming sun. “Ben provided us with a spread of pictures and photos, then our matte painters took those concepts and fleshed it out to create these environments,” explains Method’s Creative Director Aron Hjartarson. Method relied on matte painting and CG set extensions to create four dramatically immersive environments, and the transition from set to set extensions is seamless.

“The word epic was in my mind from the beginning”, explains Mor. “I wanted to make it feel like once you’re done watching the video, you’d wanna see the movie.”

Method also granulated the footage to create a low-tech visual texture versus an overly sharp and crisp finish. “We tried to achieve the vintage prime lens look, which ends up giving you that Penthouse porn shoot softness,” explains Mor. In effect, the video conveys a surreal hybrid of futuristic and ancient aesthetics.

A centerpiece of the video is the sun sequence. Taboo floats at the surface of the sun, bathed in a hot orange glare. The sun’s surface roils with flames and casts golden rays onto Taboo’s visor. “It’s tricky to pull off that really hot-texture look and keep it convincing,” says Hjartarson. “We dove into look development and came up with a superb, white-hot aesthetic.”

“Method really came through for me, and I couldn’t be any happier with their creative strength and collaborative approach,” comments Mor. “Method was able to pull a substantial look and environment extension in an obscenely short amount of time and I’m proud of the results.”

Method Journeys to Solar System for Black Eyed Peas bep goggles

About Method Studios:
Based in Santa Monica, California with offices in New York, Method is a visual effects artists’ studio specialized in the production of digital imagery for commercials, feature films and music videos.

CREDITS:
Cient: Black Eyed Peas
Title: Meet Me Halfway
VFX Studio: Method Studios
Production Company: Little Mix and Black Dog Films
Director: Ben Mor
Lead Flame: Peter Marin
Additional Flame: Martin Lazaro, David Munoz Forcada, Yoshiko Hirata, John Ciampa
Flame Asst: Chris Hunt
Nuke: Alex Jacquet, Alex Djordjevic
Roto/Paint: Christopher Riemann
CG Technical Director: Pink

RELATED LINKS:
www.methodstudios.com

Popularity: 16% [?]

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Rhino Supervises Entire Assembly Line for Mazda

Posted by cgnews On December - 11 - 2009

Rhino CD Vico Sharabani recently collaborated with director Jason Smith of Industry on an elegant new :30 for Mazda via Doner, Detroit. Sharabani supervised the planning, shoot and post work for all VFX, with a special focus on a detailed pre-vis to streamline the spot’s creation as much as possible.

Rhino Supervises Entire Assembly Line for Mazda mazda blue

The setting of What’s Inside is a high-tech garage where a MAZDA3 is partially deconstructed then seamlessly reassembled into a MAZDA5. As the crew of mechanics and machines finish their job, the vehicle is boarded by a family who drives the new MAZDA5 out of frame. While the spot appears to be totally live action, it is really a seamless mix of CG and in-camera footage blended to show off both the interior and exterior of Mazda5.

“Both Doner and Jason Smith were outstanding creative partners,” noted Sharabani. “They understood that making the natural flow work would require major `Frankenstein-type’ surgery, and their insight and willingness to adapt were refreshing. We used multiple layers in post to fully integrate a complex composite, a process that was considerably easier than it could have been, since we took care of as many details as possible in pre-vis.”

In order to exactly fulfill the director’s and the agency’s vision, Sharabani invested an incredible amount of time in pre-vis to determine which elements should be created with CG and which should be made with more traditional methods. The high tech garage, for example, with its stainless steel cylinders, light fixtures, shelves, and flatscreen monitors, is built of real props, while the ceiling, which retracts to allow a giant claw to descend and remove the car’s entire body, is CG.

Since its launch in 2000, Rhino has created award-winning visual effects, design, and animation for commercials, VFX for feature films, episodic television, webisodic mini-series, and videogame cinematics. The company’s principals and artists have also led the industry’s exploration into the boundless potential of branded digital content. By cultivating extensive relationships with key brands, advertising agencies, and film/TV studios, Rhino utilizes its creative directors and artists to develop and execute powerful branded entertainment to build both identity and awareness.

Rhino Supervises Entire Assembly Line for Mazda mazda red

CREDITS
Client: Mazda Canada
Spot Title: What’s Inside
Airdate: November 2009

Agency: Doner, Detroit/Canada
ECD: Steve Chavez
CD(s): Dan Willey, Mark Gray
Sr. AD: Jim Ward
Copywriter: Steve Chavez
Sr. Producer: Kali Kyriazis
SV. EP: Kurt Kulas

Prod Company: Industry Films
Director: Jason Smith
EP: Joan Bell
Producer: Neil Bartley

Post/Effects: Rhino
CD: Vico Sharabani
Flame Artist: Kevin Quinlan
CG Supervisor: Yuval Levy
Modeling: Brian Dinoto
Animation: Sean Curran, Goran Ognjanovic
CG TD: Ivan Guerrero
Tracking/Match Move: Bogdan Mihajlovic
Lighting: Rob Pearson, Gilad Kenan
Flame Assistant: Barry Fulano
Roto: Joshua Bush
Producer: Karen Bianca Bisignano
Production Manager: Dorit Avganim
COO/Sr. EP: Camille Geier
Managing Director: Rick Wagonheim
CEO: Zviah Eldar

Editorial: Panic and Bob
Editor: Michelle Czukar
Assistant Editor: David Findlay

Popularity: 17% [?]

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Bent Creates Abundant World For Tetra Pak

Posted by cgnews On December - 10 - 2009

Lovingly hand-crafted sets merge flawlessly with lifelike CG in Tetra Pak’s latest spot, directed by Bent Image Lab’s Rob Shaw in collaboration with the Philipp und Keuntje agency of Hamburg. The playful :30 animation showcases Bent’s ability to handle challenging projects with multiple angles – in this case developing an approachable spokes-character to deliver a serious environmental message and designing detailed, super-productive landscapes to create a humorous overtone.

Bent Creates Abundant World For Tetra Pak tetrapak jumper

Raw Materials stars Bob, goodhearted CG rabbit and expert on renewable resources. He discusses the benefits of Tetra Pak’s use of paper over plastic in its innovative food packaging as he travels through three landscapes. During his journey, Bob compares paper’s sustainable source (trees) to the merits of grain and wool. He earnestly seeks to communicate the virtues of well-managed resources but has to contend his extremely abundant environment, which seems to have a mind of its own.

In order to find just the right person for the job, the Bent team undertook an in-depth creation process to discover how Bob ticks. They began by writing a history including the rabbit’s appearance, background, age, personality quirks, and interests. The result was personable rabbit character inspired by Bob Newhart’s “everyman vulnerability” with a dash of Kermit the Frog.

From there, the team drew sketches, which were the basis for the detailed CG model of the character. Bent then built, animated and composited the model it into the spot.

“If our spokesman is your solid, educated straight man, then the environment is his loony, vibrant, comic partner,” said Shaw. “Philipp und Keuntje’s script was brilliant. It called for more than just repeating that renewable resources are good for the environment. They wanted to let the landscape demonstrate that properly managed resources can create so much abundance it’s almost funny.”

In the opening scene, Bob praises grain’s renewable nature as the entire wheat field around him is harvested by an invisible force and launched skyward. The wheat returns to earth as a shower of bread, burying the jolly rabbit, and grows back before Bob can recover. To achieve the fluid performance of the magic wheat field, Bent designed a 3D particle system made up of tens of thousands of digital reproductions of paper-art wheat stalks which were composited into a handmade set of rolling hills.

The spot then shifts to a bucolic meadow, another practical set, where the wool literally leaps off of a CG sheep in the background before reappearing and weaving itself into a sweater on the ebullient Bob. As he speaks, a fresh coat of wool grows on the embarrassed grazer.

Bent Creates Abundant World For Tetra Pak tetrapak wood

The final scene finds Bob amidst a vast, hand-crafted forest as stop-motion animated trees are sucked into the ground and reappear as Tetra Pak products. In order to create this lush setting, the Bent team created a 25-foot-deep practical set which included clay mushrooms, 14 types of fabric for ground cover and more than 200 model trees. The CG spokes-rabbit seamlessly interacts with these practical surroundings, explaining the company’s commitment to paper packaging while he dodges the new trees sprouting up rapidly around him.

Bent Image Lab is a Portland Oregon-based production company and creative laboratory, known for melding art, design and storytelling. It is a place where the brightest ideas are driven with an artist’s passion and realized through the use of cutting edge technology.

Established in 2002, BENT specializes in wildly creative spots and videos that range from the frenetic to the deeply moving. Saturday Night Live, Coca-Cola, Zune, Lux Soap, Aflac, Budweiser, FOX, Guitar Hero, HP, PBS, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Live Earth, and film directors Todd Haynes and Gus Van Sant, are just a few of the high-profile clients that have called on BENT for some of their quirky, highly-original work.

CREDITS
Spot Title: “Raw Materials”
Airdate: July 2009
Client: Tetra Pak GmbH & Co. KG

Advertising Agency: Philipp und Keuntje GmbH // Hamburg, Germany
Creative Director: Diether Kerner
Producer: Axel Leyck

Production Company: Bent Image Lab // Portland, OR
Director: Rob Shaw
Executive Producer: Ray Di Carlo
Senior Producer: Tsui Ling Toomer
Producer: Kara Place
Coordinator: Ryan Shanholtzer
Director of Photography: Bryce Fortner
Gaffer: Arron Burr
Stage: Jim Birkett
Art Director: Solomon Burbridge
Set Designer: Curt Enderle
Art Department: Greg Fosmire, Mary Blankenburg, Jen Prokopowicz, Kimi Kaplowitz, Evan Stewart, Marty Easterday, Daniel Miller, Kate Fenker, Brett Superstar, Jayme Hansen, Christina Owen, Justin Warner, Sarah Hoopes, Brandy Cochrane
Storyboard Artist: Steve Hess, Monique Ligons
Character Design: Brett Superstar
Principal Animators: Max Perleman, Eric Urban
Additional Animators: Dennis Rivera, Melik Malkasian
CG Technical Director: Fred Ruff
CG Crew: Eric Durante, Steph Kaufman, Galen Beals
Composite Artists (After Effects): Orland Nutt, Eric Gorski, Brian Kinkley
2D Artists: Dave Manuel, Traci Cook

Additional Production: Annex Films // London, England
Producer: Gerald Berman

Editorial Company: Bent Image Lab // Portland, OR
Editorial Supervisor: JD Dawson

RELATED LINKS
www.bentimagelab.com

Popularity: 18% [?]

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Absolute Gets Naked for Valley Lodge Music Video

Posted by cgnews On December - 9 - 2009

Absolute temporarily suspended its no-shirt, no-shoes, no-service policy to finish the latest video for Brooklyn-based power pop band Valley Lodge. All of My Loving is set in a bizarre household in which every piece of furniture – from the beds to the tables to the toilet – is comprised of totally nude live-action male human bodies or parts of bodies. While the actors wore underwear during the shoot, Lead Flame Artist James “Krispy” Cornwell used his visual magic to make the clothing disappear by giving it the texture and color of skin.

Absolute Gets Naked for Valley Lodge Music Video valleylodge bookshelf

Mekanism’s Dave & Rory directed the funky, upbeat video, which follows the loose narrative path of a somewhat bewildered (but fully clothed) man stumbling through his daily routine in the austere house: ironing his laundry on a human ironing board, relaxing on a reclining chair and ottoman made of bodies, and, finding one lamp made of an attractive female, guiding her to his bed – comprised of six men on all fours herded together – and flipping a human finger protruding from the wall to douse the lights and end the story.

Aside from making the actors appear to be nude, Absolute added lighting to give the video a more finished look and built the human furniture by combining Mekanism’s three takes (done from different heights and angles) using multiple video layers.

Founded in 2004 by David Smith, one of world’s leading Flame artists, Absolute is a high-end VFX studio working within the commercial, emerging media, music video, and film communities.

With offices in New York and London, Absolute over the years has collected numerous industry accolades including two BTAA awards, a D&AD pencil, a Cannes Lion, an APA Collection Diamond, three Andy wins and an MTV video statue. The New York office opened in 2007, helmed by CD Dirk Greene, to further facilitate Absolute’s international client roster with a growing Flame and CG service. www.absolutepost.com

Absolute Gets Naked for Valley Lodge Music Video valleylodge band
CREDITS
Artist: Valley Lodge
Title: All of My Loving

Directors: Dave & Rory (repped by Mekanism)
Producer: Margaux Ravis
Creative: Dave Clark, Rory Hanrahan, Margaux Ravis

Production Company: Yard Sale Productions
DP: Malcolm Murray
Executive Producer: Katie Matson
Line Producer: Brian Quinlan
Human Furniture Consultants: Tavi Stutz, Aaron Berk

Visual Effects Company: Absolute Post
VFX Flame Artists: Dirk Greene, James ‘Krispy’ Cornwell
Assists: Tim Andrews, Kristine Nordella, Warren Paleos, Michel Smith, Mark Epstein, Ross Goldstein
VFX Producer: Nirad Russell

Telecine: Fergus McCall, The Mill

Editorial Company: Final Cut
Editor: Carlos Arias
Editorial Producer: Viet-An Nguyen
Editorial Executive Producer: Rana Martin

RELATED LINKS
www.absolutepost.com
www.valleylodgemusic.com

Popularity: 16% [?]

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Crossroads Shows What Time It Is With Swatch

Posted by cgnews On December - 3 - 2009

Crossroads Director Harvey in collaboration with RH Advertising, just completed a beautiful spot for watchmaker Swatch. The :30 Seasons spot, used a number of imaginative techniques to create a surreal and abstract golden snowball fight that appears to take place in the vastness of deep black space.

Crossroads Shows What Time It Is With Swatch swatch group

Seasons opens on what appears to be a shimmering golden meteor whistling toward the camera in slow motion through space and exploding in a cloud of dust and glitter that settles in extreme slow motion on a previously hidden woman, who appears as a stylishly dressed silhouette. The mesmerizing figure then flings a golden snowball into space, setting off a spectacular golden-glittery snowball fight between countless similar gold-silhouetted characters.

The glitter highlights modern snow jackets, amazing directional hairstyles, snow shades and footwear in this happening crowd. The spot closes with a golden snowball whistling toward the camera and exploding into a shower of sparks falling through the blackness to reveal the beautifully lit Perles D’Encre Swatch watch sparkling in the darkness, the fallout of the snowball shimmering around it.

The music, handled by Point Blank, London is a perfect complement to the mysterious snowballs hurdling through space and exploding. Magical twinkles over the exploding snowballs and the Swatch reveal add to the awe of the event and create a wondrous sense that something special and valuable is being revealed.

Post house Envy, worked closely with Harvey in the studio, monitoring the blacked out set and gold glitter snowballs.

“It was a very messy shoot in that glitter covered everyone and everything,” stated Harvey. “While technically challenging from various angles, we were able to come up with a number of techniques that simplified and sped up the process.”

Crossroads Shows What Time It Is With Swatch swatch cloud

About Crossroads:
A multimedia and content creation firm, Crossroads offers a clear vision, innovative leadership, and unparalleled reach into the entertainment talent pool. With headquarters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, and an affiliate office in Toronto, Crossroads has five divisions: Film, Commercials, Music Videos, New Media, and Creative Services. All offer exclusive talent featuring some of the world’s top directors, show creators, writers, and producers.

Founded in 1989, Crossroads has been a consistent leader in the development and production of feature films and television programming, as well as producing award-winning commercial and music video content for top-tier brands, agencies and performing artists.

CREDITS
Client: Swatch
Spot Title: Seasons
Air Date: December 2009

Agency: RH Advertising
CD: Franco Reda
Client Director: Matthew Howells
Client Support: Paula Chapman Weston

Prod Company: Crossroads
Director: Harvey
Producer: Francesca Barnes
EP: Carly Stone

Telecine: Rushes
Colorist: Simone Grattarola

Post Production: Envy, London
Lead VFX: Marcus Dryden
Nuke: Olivia O’Neil
VFX Support/Particle Generation: James Knopp
3D: Howard Bell
Producer: Rachel Stones

Music: Point Blank, London
Composer: Eddie Yanez

RELATED LINKS
www.crossroadsfilms.com

Popularity: 19% [?]

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