Hasta La Motion!

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/mdew_roar_thumb.jpg”]20631[/NEWS]What begins as a mild-mannered moment in a grocery store checkout becomes a havoc-filled battleground. Tension builds as two women approach the checkout counter with different flavours of Mountain Dew’s new drink ‘Game Fuel’. As they notice that they are buying different flavours, one character prepares for an attack. The first swing of the sword triggers the transition from humans to Orc and Night Elf. As the spot progresses, the characters wildly battle through the grocery store, knocking over shelves and displays.

The Mountain Dew / World of Warcraft cross-promotional spot brought together some all-star players to handle these iconic brands. The production was executed by Radical Media and lead by esteemed director Tarsem Singh. Zoic Studios, having recently completed projects for Saboteur and Killzone 2, were appointed to handle the visual effects and animation, expertly World of Warcraft game characters into a live action setting.

Using stunt performers at motion capture studio House of Moves, Zoic shot the action sequence needed for the ‘Level Up or Die’ faceoff. Zoic’s 3D team created animation for the character’s facial expressions and applied dynamic simulation for the costumes and hair, transforming the stylized beings into “living” creatures. These multilayered characters were then given to Zoic’s 2D team for final compositing and interactive effects integration.

All of this work was done with the collaboration from legendary director Tarsem, who helmed the project with “incredible knowledge about all aspects of the process and a clear and compelling vision for the spot,” comments Zoic Creative Director/VFX Supervisor Les Ekker. “The fact that the process flowed so smoothly is a tribute to his vision and expertise. It was cool to be able to work with him on such an entertaining project.”

Zoic is an award-winning Digital Studio involved in producing lauded commercials and viral advertising as well as innovative content for episodic television, feature films and the gaming industry. From visual effects, to live action production and specialty shooting, Zoic Studio’s imprint can be seen in such compelling entertainment as True Blood, Fringe and Dollhouse; spots for Mountain Dew, ESPN, Craftsman, HP and VW, as well as innovative projects for EA, Gamefly and Sony. Zoic Studios has offices in Los Angeles and Vancouver.

Credits for “Level Up or Die”
Client: Pepsi Cola Company
Air Date: June 2009
Title: “Level Up or Die”
Length: :30

Production Company: radical.media / Santa Monica / CA
Director: Tarsem Singh
EP: Frank Scherma
EP: Tommy Turtle
Production Supervisor: Susan Loncto Sullivan Head of Production: Cathy Dunn Assistant Director: Rick Lange

Advertising Agency: BBDO NY / New York / NY EVP, Executive Creative Director: Mike Smith Copywriter, Associate Creative Director: Adam Reeves
AD: Marcel Yunes
VP/EP: Amy Werthheimer
SVP, Account Director: Tara DeVeaux
Associate: Yoonie Park

Visual Effects Production: Zoic Studios
EP: Steve Schofield
CD: Chris Jones
CD/VFX Sup: Leslie Ekker
Producer: Maya Sanchez
Coordinator: Adam Reeb
CG Supervisor: Andy Wilkoff
Animator: Chris Strauss
Animator: Laura Barbera
Rigging: John Riggs
Rigging: Scott Rosekrans
Hair Dynamics: Sal Massimini
Hair Dynamics: Kevin Quattro
Model Clean Up: Kris Kelly
Tracking: Steve McLafferty
Flame: Steve Meyer
Compositor: Chris Irving
Compositor: Jason Zimmerman
Compositor: Zach Zaubi
Rotoscoping: Tyler Nathan
Engineering Support: Dmitri Gueer
Engineering Support: An Dang
Engineering Support: Aaron Llorens
Engineering Support: Saker Klippsten

Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors / Santa Monica / CA
Editor: Kirk Baxter
Producer: Mike Goble
Assistant Editor: Anton Capaldo-Smith

www.zoicstudios.com

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/urban_bench_thumb.jpg”]20342[/NEWS]Renowned music video director Chris Hicky teamed up with DUCK’s animation director Richard Borge for his stylistic animation techniques for the latest video for country superstar Keith Urban. Kiss A Girl, the second release off of the Australian singer’s fifth studio album, Defying Gravity, is the rollicking, upbeat story of two young lovers told through Urban’s trademark catchy lyrics and shown onscreen with a dazzling combination of live-action footage, photo stills, and animation brought to life by a close collaboration between Borge and Hicky.

Hicky tapped into Borge’s style and technique with DUCK’s ever-growing resource pool to lead a large crew of animators, VFX artists, and editors to assemble the multimedia music video. After a bike-riding hipster accidentally runs into a beret-wearing girl at an art museum, they exchange numbers and a romance unfolds through a series of treated live-action footage and stills, in which the new couple texts and enjoys intimate interludes on a park bench and Ferris wheel. The photo real cutaways of the couple”s love story were filmed as photo stills and then brought into After Effects to apply and design a unique treatment.

As the narrative cuts back and forth between the young lovers and Urban’s band rocking onstage in Nashville, animation enhances the narrative, with stick-figure birds fluttering across the cityscape and transforming into hearts, animated power lines, and a fantastic amusement park complete with roller coasters and a tent-filled midway. Borge co-directed and designed the animation and abstract urban treatment applied to the live-action performance footage.

“A project like this is deceptively complicated,” noted Hicky. “What seems like a straightforward stage shot and narrative is actually a multilayered project when the treatment is applied to strike the exact tone that a celebrated artist like Keith Urban expects. DUCK did an awesome job of taking the various types of footage, mixing in the treatment and the FX, and putting together a pitch-perfect final project.”

“DUCK is growing all the time, and this video is a great showcase of our latest capabilities,” stated Mark Medernach, DUCK EP. “When you’re working with a known director like Chris Hicky, you don’t want to disappoint, and I’m really proud of our team for coming through on this one, especially given the high-profile nature of the final product.”

The video’s intro features original art direction and design by DUCK’s directing team YellowShed (Todd Hemker and Soyeon Kim).

About DUCK
Los Angeles-based DUCK, formerly Duck Soup Studios, is a continually evolving creative studio producing commercials, music videos, short films and web content. DUCK offers a wide range of services, including live action and integration, character design, film title design, 2D and 3D animation, digital compositing, digital/traditional ink & paint. In recent years, the studio has expanded, adding an original content division that works with writers and animators on unique ideas for film and TV.

Credits
Artist: Keith Urban
Song Title: Kiss A Girl
Air Date: June 2009

Prod Company: DUCK
Live Action Director: Chris Hicky
Animation Director: Richard Borge
EP: Mark Medernach

Art Direction/Design Directors: YellowShed (Todd Hemker and Soyeon Kim)

Shoot Location: Nashville

Related Links
www.duckstudios.com
www.keithurban.net

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/adidas_messi_shoe.jpg”]20095[/NEWS]The Mill and 180 Amsterdam have ignited the new ad campaign for Adidas’ F50i football boot. A 90 second ad features football legend Zinedine Zidane on an epic quest to uncover the secret of Barcelona midfielder Lionel ‘The Spark’ Messi’s past. The spot had its UK television premier during the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United and is part of a digitally led global marketing campaign. The ad, shot in the style of a graphic comic book, opens in the streets of Buenos Aires and features the hooded figure of Zidane embarking on a journey to discover what caused Messi’s ‘spark’.

As he sparks his lighter, we are transported back in time to see a group of children playing football in the city’s back streets. When a van crashes into an electricity pylon, electrical sparks rain down over a little boy casting him in a heavenly beam of light whilst a mysterious stranger hides in the shadows. Could this be the secret of Messi’s success?

The scene then cuts to a crowded football stadium. The Mill used Massive to create thousands of digital characters with artificial intelligence giving them realistic individual behaviour. There we witness a grown-up Messi demonstrating his electric footwork on the pitch as Zidane looks on, pondering over the intriguing myth behind Messi’s talent.

Adam Scott, Head of Telecine, explains how The Mill emulated the look of a comic book based on Director Rupert Sanders’ vision.

“The source material was 35mm, HD video and Data capture so the final look had to blend these different formats together. I added a lot of contrast and sharpness to the material as a base layer for the image and pushed the saturation of specific colours so that the hero characters and the boots stood out. Then I created mattes to achieve layers of separation and to enhance the two dimensional effect before finally giving the whole film an unusual golden brown hue that created an unnatural feel and complemented the cyan football kit and boots.” said Scott.

About The Mill
The Mill is a world-leading visual effects company with bases in the globe’s three most important advertising centres – London and New York and now Los Angeles. The Mill has worked on some of the most memorable visual effects projects in the world (including Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’ for which it gained a VFX Oscar) and has won more awards for visual effects than any other facility in Europe, including work on Johnnie Walker ‘Human’, Sony ‘Balls’, Sony Playstation ‘Mountain’ and Honda ‘Cog’.

The Mill has built relationships with the industry’s finest directors including Chris Cunningham, Frank Budgen, Fredrik Bond, Ringan Ledwidge and Michel Gondry. Data Grading suites have been installed in the London and NY offices bringing movie best practise to our clients and making The Mill the only facility ‘data’ grading for commercials.

CREDITS
Agency: 180 Amsterdam
Creative Director: Andy Fackrell
Creatives: Peter Albores, Martin Terhart
Producer: Joe Togneri
Production Company: MJZ London
Director: Rupert Sanders
Producer: Nell Jordan
Editing Company: Work
Editor: Neil Smith
Post Production: The Mill
Producer: Matt Williams, Darren O’Kelly
Shoot Supervisor: Jimmy Kiddell
Telecine: Adam Scott
Lead Flame: Richard de Carteret
Lead Shake: Pete Hodsman
Shake Assist: Ben Smith, Ben Perrot, Vannessa Duquesney
Additional Flame: Gary Driver
Matte Paintings: Jimmy Kiddell, Dave Gibbons
Assit: John Price
3D Supervisor: Jordi Bares
3D: Suraj odera, Sergio Xisto, Naweed Khan
Kit: Flame, Shake, Massive, Combustion, Baselight

RELATED LINKS
www.the-mill.com

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/term_nurse_thumb.jpg”]19919[/NEWS]“Terminator Salvation” is set in post-apocalyptic 2018, where John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future that Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

The highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, “Terminator Salvation” is directed by McG (”Charlie’s Angels,” “We Are Marshall”). The screenplay is by Michael Ferris & John Brancato. Moritz Borman, Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek and Jeffrey Silver are the producers, with Jeanne Allgood, Dan Lin, Mario F. Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna and Joel B. Michaels serving as executive producers.

Wishing to avoid comparisons with the Transformers franchise, McG has stated “Transformers is an excellent movie, but our film is not about big robots. I wanted it to have lots of hardware and velocity, but I didn’t want to hang the whole movie on it.”

Visual Effects for the movie were undertaken by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), with Asylum fx and Rising Sun Pictures bringing their skills to various sequences.

In addition to the brilliant CG work generated for ‘Terminator Salvation’, McG contracted Stan Winston studios to create real life models of some of the terminator characters that the human cast could interact with. Stan Winston, the special effects pioneer who designed the original Terminator endoskeleton, worked on Terminator Salvation prior to his death in June this year. McG intends to dedicate the moive to Winston’s memory.

The film stars Christian Bale as John Connor (”The Dark Knight”), Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright (”The Great Raid”), Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese (”Star Trek”), Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor (”Spider-Man 3″), Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams (”What Just Happened?”), Common as Barnes, (”Wanted”), Jane Alexander as Virginia (”The Unborn”), Jadagrace as Star and Helena Bonham Carter as Serena Kogen (”Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”)

“Terminator Salvation” will be released in the U.S. on May 21, 2009 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Sony Pictures Releasing International is distributing the film in most international territories between May 2009 and June 2009.

CREDITS:
Director: McG
Screenplay:Michael Ferris & John Brancato
Producers: Moritz Borman, Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek and Jeffrey Silver
Executive producers: Jeanne Allgood, Dan Lin, Mario F. Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna and Joel B. Michaels
Cinematographer: Shane Hurlbut
Production designer: Martin Laing
Editor: Conrad Buff
Costume designer: Michael Wilkinson
Visual effects supervisor: Charlie Gibson
Animatronics supervisor: John Rosengrant
Music:Danny Elfman

SOURCES & RELATED LINKS:
www.sonypictures.net/movies/terminatorsalvation
http://terminatorsalvation.warnerbros.com
Industrial Light & Magic: www.ilm.com
Rising Sun Pictures: www.rsp.com.au
Asylum fx: www.asylumfx.com

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/cable_tattoo_thumb.jpg”]19874[/NEWS]Motion design & production house Royale was called upon by COMEDY CENTRAL to create some fun and glitz for the show open for the “COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Larry The Cable Guy.” The tattoo art-inspired sequence is driven by country boy heraldry including symbolic translations of the American flag, hunting and wildlife. Behind a dazzling array of arena rock lighting, the sequence opens with a sexy close-up of a bass fish tattoo emblazoned on a woman’s lower back bearing the Cable Guy’s trademark catch-phrase “Git ‘R Done.”

As the tattoo-adorned Larry flexes his muscles and vaunts Dixieland’s finest, we’re introduced to Roast Master Lisa Lampanelli and the diverse cast of celebrity roasters including Warren Sapp, Gary Busey, Jeff Foxworthy and Toby Keith.

“This is the second consecutive COMEDY CENTRAL Roast that we have collaborated on with Royale,” says Rick Austin, Producer of the “COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Larry The Cable Guy.” “Royale understands the Roast brand and have proven they can adapt that sensibility to the diverse personalities we have had at the center of these shows. They had a terrific knack for being able to make it feel right for Larry’s image and also right for the show.”

“Working with Royale is always a rich and collaborative experience and their impeccably crafted work is consistently beyond our wildest expectations,” adds Chris Scarlata, design director of COMEDY CENTRAL’s on-air promotions. “Their collective talent is only surpassed by their ability to wholeheartedly listen to and truly collaborate with our creatives.”

Excited about the potential for an edgier, animation-driven show open, Royale provided COMEDY CENTRAL with motion tests, offering visual roughs showcasing their capabilities.

“COMEDY CENTRAL asked us to present Larry in a unique way, under a more contemporary light,” says Jayson Whitmore, Royale Creative Director. “Going through a world of tattoos, we could transcend genre while also staying true to his comedic style and fan base. COMEDY CENTRAL put a lot of trust in our concept. We’ve worked together before, but it really took a leap of faith for them to buy into our offbeat vision — especially considering the project’s three-week turnaround.”

From design to animation, Royale Creative Director Brien Holman was the primary artist behind the show open. According to Holman, having the trust of both Rick Austin and COMEDY CENTRAL was key to developing such a different look for the Roast. “I have to hand it to them; they really nurtured our workflow, giving us free reign to finish up the spot, and show them our work in stages. The style of the show took a few rounds to nail down; the design perspectives where we started and where we ended are completely different. It was this seamless collaboration that allowed the main concept to take center stage. It really allowed us the opportunity to experiment with what a ‘traditional’ roast open should look like.”

Working with high-quality RED footage was also a huge aspect in giving the team at Royale the flexibility to push through vast areas of tattoos. In addition to creating the show open and graphics packages, which included transitions, bumpers and lower-thirds, COMEDY CENTRAL opted to implement Royale’s custom-crafted logo and tattoo elements into the show’s stage graphics.

“It’s exciting to see the all-encompassing nature of our work really go the distance,” concludes Holman. “The entire stage was decked out in the graphics that we provided — even the after-party adopted our tattoo inspired theme. By delivering a conceptual aesthetic to the stage graphics, we became an integral part of the entire production and its overall success.”

About Royale:
Founded by creative directors Jayson Whitmore, Brien Holman and executive producer Jennifer Lucero, Royale recognizes that the landscape of advertising has changed drastically within the last few years, and that although the outlets may be changing, the power of the moving image continues to be the most effective way of communicating. Royale’s greatest love is to help solve our client’s advertising needs through the visceral language of motion design. The Royale treatment is an endless stream of creative solutions that surpass client expectation, while maintaining a comfortable, relaxed and highly creative environment.

Recent projects for the 18-month-old company include a ambitious animated spot for McDonald’s, a network re-brand for Discovery Channel, live show graphics for Madonna’s current “Sticky & Sweet Tour,” a campaign for Jet Blue, as well as an image spot and graphics package for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “Indecision 2008.” Royale is currently in production on multiple shows for Discovery Channel and Comedy Central.

Credits:
Client: COMEDY CENTRAL

Project Title: “COMEDY CENTRAL Roast Of Larry The Cable Guy” show package and show open
Airdate: March 15, 2009

Production & Design Company: Royale/Los Angeles, CA
Creative Directors: Brien Holman & Jayson Whitmore
Executive Producer: Jennifer Lucero
Producer: Anne Hong
Designers: Kyle Smith, Anthony Madlangbayan, Nicolas Chifflet
Animators: Kevin Tonkin, Anthony Madlangbayan, James Rydesky

Related Links:
www.weareroyale.com