Hasta La Motion!

Long ago, Virgin Airways embraced the simple fact that no one pays attention to the poor flight attendants as they drone on mechanically about oxygen masks and flotation devices.

Why not use that time to share something genuinely entertaining, something that communicates the necessary safety information and conveys the playfully chic persona of the Virgin brand?

Take a Trip

The latest in Virgin’s flight safety film series, “Trip,” comes from Art&Graft. At over 5 minutes long, it’s an ambitious project. But the premise behind the film gave the team essentially unlimited creative freedom.

At the film’s opening, a drowsy passenger slips into a dream state while the flight attendant recites her safety spiel. We follow the passenger through a series of surreal vignettes inspired by genres of film, everything from sci-fi to westerns. Each scene communicates a core safety tip before moving on to the next unexpected scenario.

Process

Art&Graft shares a bit of their process on their website:

To bring our ideas to life, the A&G team combined an illustrative approach with exciting 3D and 2D animation techniques. All the character animation was produced using a traditional frame-by-frame technique – very labour intensive, especially when creating a 6 minute film, but the results look beautiful and are extremely rewarding!

Elements throughout the film were modelled in 3D; allowing us to ’wrap’ our illustrations around these models to keep the illustrative feel yet giving the scenes fantastic depth and space. This allowed all the camera angles to be planned out and ensure the 2D characters could then be animated in each scene with the addition of further textures and casted shadows.

Other Virgin Airways films

Virgin Atlantic Flight Safety Video (2008)

Virgin + method “We’re All in This Together”

Following up on Johnny Kelly’s insanely successful “Back to the Start” stop-action film for Chipotle is not an easy task. The project mopped up at award shows and was a crowd favorite. Its analogue technique meaningfully echoed Chipotle’s message of bucking factory farming and technologically-powered “progress” for a more hands-on approach to food.

Louisiana-based Moonbot Studios, who won an Academy Award for the short, “The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore” and set the gold standard for interactive storybooks with the accompanying Morris Lessmore iPad app, was up for the challenge.

Their recently released “The Scarecrow” echoes many of the same themes as “Back to the Start,” and its soundtrack also features a cover of a famous song performed by an unexpected artist. While “Back to the Start” had Willie Nelson singing Coldplay, in “The Scarecrow” Fiona Apple sings “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The effect is equal parts haunting and magical.

It’s also worth noting that Moonbot’s film is entirely CG. A helpful reader added some detail in the comments:

“Moonbot’s film is entirely CG” isn’t entirely accurate, the barn and the kitchen interior were built as miniatures, filmed, and composited into the CG scenes.

Where “Back to the Start” shined a bright light on the hand-crafted nature of its production, “The Scarecrow” dives deeper into its protagonist’s life. While both films are emotionally powerful, “The Scarecrow” feels more like a mini-feature film, executed with the same scale and grandeur as a Pixar film.

Scarecrow: The Game

Keeping with the Morris Lessmore formula, Moonbot Studios also created an iOS game to accompany “The Scarecrow.” From Moonbot:

Created in collaboration with Chipotle Mexican Grill, “The Scarecrow” is an arcade-style adventure game for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and a companion animated short film. Both pieces depict a scarecrow’s journey to bring wholesome food back to the people by providing an alternative to the processed food that dominates his world.

Posted on Motionographer

“A balloon dog is lost in a world of danger. One wrong step and his dancing days are done. Only love, and tango, can possibly save him.”

Sam Stephens and Christopher Mauch (Hyrda) co-directed this charming short about a pair of balloon animals in love. It’s one of those sweetly told tales that ticks along effortlessly, bringing you and your smile with it.

The audio is a huge component of this short. Joe Miuccio’s sound design pumps up the comedy while the original score from Michael Hewett and Matt Nakoa undulates and contorts as playfully as the main characters. Superb work.

Produced by Humble.

Posted on Motionographer

Chances are you’ve seen either one or both of the Oreo “Wonderfilled” spots that have been burning up the interwebs.

The :90 anthem was directed by Martin Allais with animation by his own animation shop, Studio Animal. (Not to be confused with the Korean studio by the same name.) It’s a tour de force of 2D character work, packed with cute moments of hesitation and punctuated by charming type.

The :30 version by Royale uses a 3D/2D technique similar to their Christmas short, The Bell Ringer.

The chronically catchy tune was penned by Martin Agency creative director Dave Muhlenfeld and performed by Owl City.

NOTE: This post was updated to correct the studio attributed to the :90 spot.

Credits

:90 Anthem (Martin Allais)
Client Credits:
Global Marketing Communication: Jill Baskin
Brand Marketing Director: Janda Lukin
Agency Credits:
Chief Creative Officer: Joe Alexander
Group Creative Director: Jorge Calleja
Creative Director: David Muhlenfeld
Creative Director: Magnus Hierta
Senior Art Director: Brig White
Planning Director: John Gibson
Managing Director: Steve Humble
Senior Broadcast Producer: Kathy Lippincott
Broadcast Producer: Heather Tanton
Broadcast Junior Producer: Caroline Helms
Production Company: Studio Animal
Director: Martin Allais
Producer: Maria Soler Chopo
Illustration: Martin Allais
Storyboards: Martin Allais
Animatic: Pere Hernández, Javi Vaquero, Matt Deans
Animator: Pere Hernández, Javi Vaquero, Pablo Navarro, Dani Alcaraz
Tracing and color:Ezequiel Cruz, Macarena Ortega, Eva Puyuelo, Joel Morales
Compositing: Santi Justribó Martin Allais
Music:
Music (performed by): Owl City (Adam Young)
Voiceover talent: Owl City (Adam Young)
Original Music and Lyrics: David Muhlenfeld (English Major, LLC)

:30 (Royale)
Executive Creative Director/Partner: Brien Holman
Managing Director/Partner: Jennifer Lucero
Art Director: Andy Lyon
Designers: Jonathan Kim, Andy Lyon, Jennifer Olive Lee, Jason Cook, George Fuentes, Anthony Madlangbayan
3D Modeling/Surfacing Lead: Juan Carlos Cuadra
3D Character Animation: Andy Lyon, James Lane, James Parris, Ian Mankowski
3D Rigging: Ian Mankowski
3D Modeling/Rendering: George Longo, Juan Carlos Cuarda, Ian Mankowski, John W. Nguyen
3D Animation: Orlando Costa, Kevin Tonkin
2D Cel Animation: Andy Lyon, Anthony Madlangbayan

Storyboard Artists: Scott Richie/Brian Koons
Compositing: Mike Humphries, Renzo Reyes, John W. Nguyen

Head of Production: Danielle Hazan
Producer: Jamey Kitchens

Posted on Motionographer

In December of last year Halo 4 came out and the world rejoiced. Along with it came a web series called Forward Unto Dawn which was a live action VFX set that brought the Halo universe to life. It opened with 5 fantastic title sequences created by Polynoid a German Design/VFX house.

From the Press Release:

Polynoid’s microfilms illustrate the intense relationship between Cortana, an artificial intelligence entity and indispensable aide to Master Chief, the long-time hero of the Halo series. Set aboard a spacecraft, the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, as it drifts towards imminent doom, Cortana must battle to awaken Master Chief from cryo-stasis before it’s too late.

“For us, Cortana was the centerpiece around which we spun our story,” said Polynoid’s Jan Bitzer. “When we started working out the scenes and shots, we did it under the premise that Cortana is the only ‘alive’ being we could play with.”

With elegantly framed shots, drifting cameras and gloomy lighting, Polynoid emphasized the soul-crushing loneliness aboard the nearly empty spacecraft. To effectively communicate the passing of time, Polynoid switched from the relative calm of zero-gravity to intense time-lapsed action.

“[The time lapse sequence] was technically the most challenging. We spent a lot of time tweaking it; always trying to improve every shot simultaneously to guarantee a consistent quality for the overall piece,” Bitzer noted.

Polynoid and Blacklist collaborated with 343 Industries every step of the way, carefully guarding production from the massive press surrounding “Halo 4.” “Polynoid are gamers, and this was a dream opportunity,” said Blacklist Executive Producer Adina Sales. “This project was a perfect fit for our team.  343 was looking for a sophisticated interpretation and they encouraged us to push the artistic lense.  Polynoid had a clear vision from the outset and we were determined to deliver in spades.  We’re very proud of the results.”

Here you can see a detailed making of that goes through their entire process from conception:

Don’t forget to check out their site page for the sequence for some stills and styleframes!

We dropped them a line to do a little Q&A with Polynoid’s Jan Bitzer and Fabian Pross.  Here’s a snippet but click ‘Full Interview’ to view the entire thing!

Fabian Pross on the FX:

We used Softimage ICE for almost all our effects work. The rampancy is actually not simulated, but a combination of procedural modeling and some keyframes.

Jan Bitzer on the Asset Development

343 Industries provided us with most of the CG assets which we had to bring together on an equal production level. Some elements where very high poly and had to be optimized, while others were simplified game assets and needed detail work.

What made your company interested in taking on the Halo franchise and creating an opening cinematic web series for their game?

JB: The epic Halo universe, the geek factor, science fiction and space, the storyline, the darkness, the mood and the chance to work on an unusual format of creating five individual title sequences – these were all big factors. And then we were pretty stoked to be given the chance to add our little part to the vast amount of artwork that has formed Halo over the years.

Taking on an IP as big as Halo must have come with some pretty unique challenges to keep the storyline and timeline in order. What sort of hurdles did you have to overcome to match everything up?

JB: We did a lot of research on facts and trivia concerning the world of Halo before we started working on the script so that everything was seamless.

Of course we were eager to implement our style and new elements into the Halo glossary — the Cortana Rampancy for example. We had a bit of back and forth about designing the elements of the data sphere and the way the rampancy should look.

Did you have much creative freedom with the project? What sort of things were provided and what were some of the freedoms you enjoyed?

JB: 343 Industries provided us with most of the CG assets which we had to bring together on an equal production level. Some elements where very high poly and had to be optimized, while others were simplified game assets and needed detail work. Besides that, we received style sheets on how to treat certain elements, what to do and what to avoid.

I think the biggest creative freedom besides the creation of the Cortana Rampancy was probably the influence we have through our way of storytelling. We wanted to honor the slow-paced features of a title sequence while at the same time progress in a storyline. The show director Stewart Hendler and 343 Industries where very open to our approach and ideas.

The Cortana rampancy simulations look great! What software did you use for all of the simulations? How difficult was the R&D and were you able to drive the creative force behind the look and feel?

FP: We used Softimage ICE for almost all our effects work. The rampancy is actually not simulated, but a combination of procedural modeling and some keyframes. Since we’ve worked on stuff similar to this in the past, the R&D came along naturally in only a couple of days and the rest was spent tweaking and animating.

In terms of look and feel, the rampancy was in fact the one thing we were able to add to the ‘Halo dictionary.’ We were very happy to design it more or less from scratch and push it through.

To further that question what sort of real life references did you look at to create that effect?

JB: To be honest, none. We studied a lot of recent effects work from “Tron” and “Prometheus.” Those specific looks were procedural animations using Processing, but since we were unfamiliar with that program at the time, we approached it in Softimage with ICE.

With a project this scope there are bound to be some issues that pop up. What were any technical limitations or frustrations your team had with the project?

JB: We struggled a bit with the optimization of the shading and lighting setup. Since this was one of our first excursions into the world of Arnold as primary renderer, we had to learn the do’s and don’ts of handling the renderings – the interior set especially took a while to be production ready.

We had to deal with huge amounts of polygons and a lot of image noise caused by a room full of metal shaders and lots of lights. And then there was all this ice, snow and frost which is a whole different story!
It took us a while to figure out a workflow that gave us the result we wanted.

The time lapse effect looks great and serves really well to further the storyline, what went into the development of that effect?

JB: We pulled some references from the web of ice growing and camera behavior during time lapse effects. We tried to implement all the little flaws that time lapse capturing characterize – things like exposure flickering and small inconsistencies in the camera movement.

The lighting looks fantastic, can you speak about any techniques you used?

JB: Heiko Schneck did a great job on creating the lighting setup for the interior set.

We used Arnold for the rendering. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make use of any diffuse bouncing due to a lot of noise issues, resulting in the combination of an interior set with lots of lights and metallic surfaces. But Arnold is a monster when it comes to high poly counts and its shading capabilities were a big time saver.

Even beyond further reference gathering there must have been troves of concept art to deal with. What sort of inspiration did your team take when working on this project?

JB: Since the “Halo 4″ teaser was already released, we had a strong guideline on the look we needed to achieve. Story wise, the end of our work marks the start of the teaser, specifically when Master Chief wakes up. Naturally, a part of our task was to ‘blend.’ We put our efforts into detail work, refining the shaders and textures and creating a realistic mood.

The new character redesign for Cortana is very human and the Master Chief looks spectacular with tons of new detail. What sort of influence did you have on the character development or how did you reinterpret what you were given?

JB: The time we spent on the characters was mostly targeted towards Cortana’s appearance. Master Chief was an easier task – he came with all the maps so we just did some shading work and kicked him off to render.

Cortana was a different story – she was to appear photo real but very stylized. There was a lot of look development that went into her rendering and quite a bit of back and forth with the client until we settled on the final setup. But it all worked out well at the end!

We all know that both Bungie and 343 Industries/Microsoft are quite fond of hiding little gems in their projects; Are there any fun easter eggs you guys left in the project?

JB: We wish we had! We planned on implementing a bunch of little ‘die hard fan’ surprises, but at the end of production they all got chopped due to edit and shot changes and prioritizing work hours. A bit unromantic, but we do wish we could’ve made it happen.

Posted on Motionographer