Mekanism’s Kovalik Directs Campaign For Schwab

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/schwab_thumb.jpg”]19404[/NEWS]Mekanism’s Ian Kovalik directs a five spot package of live action/animated :30s for Charles Schwab. In the commercials Charles Schwab & Co encourages potential savers, cautious in the present precarious financial climate, to “Do Something About It”. Mekanism is a San Francisco and New York based creative production studio, housing film, animation and digital content creators. Mekanism sprinkle thier love of good storytelling on viral campaigns, commercials and branded entertainment to inspire measurable brand loyalty.

About Charles Schwab & Co
The Charles Schwab Corporation helps millions of people save, invest and manage their money. Schwab is the industry leader in serving Registered Investment Advisors, and they manage retirement plans for companies of all sizes.

The Creds:
Client: Charles Schwab & Co.
Spots Title: Shore Up (featured)
Air Date: February 2009

Agency: EuroRSCG
Creative Director(s): Simon Nickson, Drummond Berman
Senior Producer: Jeff Stock

Prod Company: Mekanism
Director: Ian Kovalik
EP(s): Jason Harris, Mat Lundberg
Producer: Tim Rayel

Animation Company: Mekanism
Lead Animator: Tom Westerlin

Editorial: Mekanism

Finishing: Berwyn Editorial
Post Producer: Cecilia Lewis
About Mekanism:

RELATED LINKS
www.mekanism.com
www.schwab.com

“Meet Méline” – Teaser Trailer for New Animation Short

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/meline_headshot_thumb.jpg”]19331[/NEWS]In an ordinary barn, of a quiet small town, a little girl will be faced with an extraordinary event ….….. “Meet Meline” tells the story of a young girl who spends much of her time playing in a dusty old wooden out-shed at her grandparents home. One day, whilst in the midst of her favourite past time of drawing, Méline suddenly finds herself face to face with an unknown furry creature. This short animated film follows a petite heroine called Méline as she makes a discovery of a lifetime. “Meet Méline” is the brainchild and loving creation of 3D artists and creative directors Virginie Goyons and Sebastien Laban.

Initially the idea behind the project was to produce a 20 second clip that would provide a platform on which the two artists could develop and perfect their skills ….. two years later the piece has developed into a short animated film.

Goyons and Laban have recently completed a teaser trailer that gives a clear view of the character of Méline but keeps details of the plotline under wraps ….. ensuring we are intrigued to see more.

“Meet Méline” The Short Film and “Meet Méline” The Making of : are both due for release in 2009. The making of “Meet Méline” has also lead to the production of a hard backed book and some beautiful, emotive poster artwork.

CREDITS:
Written by: Virginie Goyons & Sebastien Laban
Animated by: Virginie Goyons & Sebastien Laban
Sounds by: Cedric Denooz
Music by: Guillaume ROUSSEL!

RELATED LINKS:
www.meetmeline.com

Meet Meline Blog on CG Society

Click 3X Creates Animated Circus for ‘See You Sunday’ on MTV

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/mtv_sunday_thumb.jpg”]19279[/NEWS]Embarking on a new creative partnership, Click 3X recently collaborated with MTV to create a show open, packaging, and promos for See You Sunday. Promoting four new shows in their latest block of Sunday programming, the clips incorporate live action footage of high-profile stars with unique hand-drawn animation, explosions, and VFX. To support the shows, Click animated several promos, a :30 opening and cut-down, six bumpers with integrated animation, and two live action bumpers, each playing off traditional images of circus life with high-intensity, parodied versions of classic stunts.

The vibrant animation interacting with the live action created by Click 3X adds depth to the storylines, while supporting the style and humor of the shows.

Targeting the young male demographic with a weekly high energy, must-see event, See You Sunday includes Nitro Circus, a daring stunt show starring Travis Pastrana and Johnny Knoxville, Fantasy Factory, showcasing Rob Dyrdek’s wild skate-based schemes, College Humor, based on the wildly popular website, and How’s Your News, a product of South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, which follows five reporters with mental and physical disabilities.

The colorful animation helps to build the mood of each piece with outlandish antics such as animated knife-throwing, bananas brandishing chainsaws, and the carnival’s tall man upstaging all with his powerful rainbow pee-stream.

The :60 promo, Anticipation, features the shows’ stars about to perform in a sideshow complete with human cannonball, tightrope skateboarding, daredevil motorcycle jumps, and face-offs with ferocious lions. The additional animated content created by Click 3X artists follow the same themes, showcasing the bizarre but enthralling, reality-suspending sideshow worlds of the carnival grounds with effects and characters that build on the intrigue surrounding the shows.

Quote:

“Harold, Evan, Thomas, Kris, and the rest of the MTV team were an absolute joy to work with on this project. I know this is a cliché, but this wasn’t work, this was fun. Tom, Erica, and I were in our creative comfort zone for this job creating seamless visual vfx, creative editorial and subversive, psychedelic graphics. In fact, many of the pieces were actually a result of some organic, on-set brainstorming between our teams.” Creative Director/VFX Artist Mark Szumski.


The entire Click team worked extensively with the MTV staff and directors from pre-vis through post, coming up with creative solutions and providing effects expertise on-set and throughout the filming and editorial process. Creative Director/VFX Artist Mark Szumski and VFX Artist/Animator Tom Matheu each spent significant time on set, contributing their expertise.

Shot with both Red and Phantom cameras in an enormous area complete with boxcars and a 30 foot ramp, the team was able to effectively capture the action-packed narrative and set the stage for Click’s animators to go to work. To enhance and heighten the strange, engaging effects on top of the live action, Click artists also added sky replacements, lighting and fire effects, explosion embellishments, and smoke to the range of shots, using Flame to cleanup and composite the layers of each piece and increase the impact of the shots and animated effects.

The See You Sunday block debuted to excellent ratings, helping to secure the crucial target male audience for MTV. EP Connor Swegle notes, “MTV came to us with an amazing concept seeking a creative partner with the ability to collaborate on-set and through editorial, design, and animation. With our involvement so early in the process, we were able to add to the creative flow-this helped create a final product that was successful for the MTV team, the program block, and the network.” Given the success of this project, Click 3X has already signed on to three new ventures for MTV, further expanding a vast body of recent work which includes projects across broadcast, feature films, and interactive.

Quote:

“I was really impressed by the level of dedication that Click 3X showed in helping bring our twisted vision of psychedelic circus train mayhem to life. There was a great sense of collaboration throughout the project, and their enthusiasm and hard work was second to none.” MTV Design Director, Thomas Berger.



About Click 3X:

New York-based Click 3X produces cutting-edge visual solutions for commercials, feature films, television, music videos, and broadcast clients around the globe. Founded in 1993, Click 3X has become one of the preeminent providers of innovative media content, housed in an environment led by artists, yet supported by one of the most technologically advanced digital studios in the industry.

With award-winning design, powerful visual effects, and a visionary animation team, Click 3X has worked on array of diverse highly-recognizable projects, including a series of films from academy-award winning directors like Jonathan Demme and Davis Guggenheim, a recent multimedia package for eight HD Time Warner spots, My Home 2.0, a five episode reality TV series for Verizon Fios, and a long line of recent commercials for major brands such as Sharp, Ford, and Goodyear.

The Creds:
Post/Effects: Click 3X
Creative Director/VFX Artist: Mark Szumski
VFX Artist/Animator: Tom Matheu
Designer/Animator: Erica Gorochow
Managing Director: Jason Mayo
Executive Producer: Connor Swegle
Producer: Christine DoRego

Related Links:
www.mtv.com/ontv/see_you_sunday/

www.click3x.com

The Mill Scores With The Damned United

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/damned_clough_thumb.jpg”]19275[/NEWS]The Mill, working with BBC Films has recently completed work on the critically acclaimed ‘The Damned United’. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by David Pearce and adapted for screen by Peter Morgan, (The Queen and Frost/Nixon) the film was directed by the award winning Tom Hooper (Longford and John Adams). The Damned United plays out the humorously dark story of Brian Clough’s doomed 44 day tenure as the manager of the reigning champions of English football in the 70’s, Leeds United.

Starring Michael Sheen (The Deal, The Queen, Frost/Nixon) as the legendary Brian Clough, Timothy Spall (Secrets and Lies, Harry Potter, Sweeney Todd) as his friend and assistant Peter Taylor and Jim Broadbent (Bridget Jones, The Young Victoria, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) plays the Derby Chairman, Sam Longson, Clough’s former boss.

Quote:

Will Cohen, Group Director Mill Film, said; “We have a great working relationship with Tom and we were incredibly excited to have the opportunity to be involved with The Damned United. It was a fun and challenging experience to recreate the interior of the iconic Wembley Stadium from the early 70s as well as creating the Massive Crowd scenes”.


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.

The Damned United Cast:
Brian Clough – Michael Sheen
Peter Taylor – Timothy Spall
Don Revie – Colm Meaney
Manny Cussins – Henry Goodman
Jimmy Gordon – Maurice Roeves
Sam Longson – Jim Broadbent
Billy Bremner – Stephen Graham
Dave Mackay – Brian McCardie
Johnny Giles – Peter McDonald
Colin Todd – Giles Alderson
John O’Hare – Martin Compston
Duncan McKenzie – Joe Dempsie
Barbara Clough – Elizabeth Carling
Lillian Taylor – Gillian Waugh

Credits:
Producer: Andy Harries.
Executive producers: Christine Langan, Hugo Heppell, Peter Morgan.
Co-producers, Grainne Marmion, Lee Morris.
Directer: Tom Hooper
Screenplay: Peter Morgan (based on the 2006 novel “The Damned Utd” by David Peace)
Camera : Ben Smithard (color, Panavision widescreen)
Editor: Melanie Oliver
Music: Rob Lane;
Music supervisor: Liz Gallacher
Production designer: Eve Stewart
Supervising art director: Andrew Holden-Stokes
Art director: Leon McCarthy
Costume designer: Mike O’Neill
Sound (Dolby Digital): Martin Beresford, Paul Hamblin
Visual effects supervisor: David Bowman
Visual effects: the Mill
Special effects supervisor: Paul Kelly
Assistant director: Martin Curry

Superfad Collaborates With MTV On ‘Indebted’ Campaign

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/superfad_mtv_thumb.jpg”]19249[/NEWS]Animation has the powerful ability to make the abstract instantly personal and relatable. To inspire a call to action via www.indebted.com, a joint project between mtvU and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Superfad has produced the second in a series of animated PSAs addressing the dangers of personal and government debt. Indebted is a campaign directed at college students that aims to raise awareness about excessive debt and promote action to help stop the fiscal crisis in the U.S.

With Indebted 2, Superfad helps illustrate what young people might expect from the future, a bleak picture if we don’t help turn back the hands of the national debt clock. This spot is the follow up to an earlier Superfad animated piece that focused on the pitfalls of personal debt.

Quote:

“The main challenge we faced was walking the very fine line of making the spot desolate without being overwhelmingly depressing,” says Superfad Creative Director Adam Parry. “We worked remotely with Dax (MTV’s Director) from NY to our office in London. He is great with feedback and direction so it all ran very smoothly. We look forward to seeing where they take the campaign next but hope the need for additional spots diminishes as people heed the call to action.”


CREDITS
Client: mtvU & the Peter G. Peterson Foundation

Concept: MTV
Writer/Director: Dax Martinez-Vargas
Senior Director: Sophia Cranshaw

Animation Production: Superfad
Executive Producer: Stuart Robinson
Creative Director: Adam Parry

Crossroads Creates Fire For Death Cab for Cutie

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/cutie_couple_thumb.jpg”]19238[/NEWS]Crossroads’ directorial duo Walter Robot’s dynamic and inventive visual style is the force behind a trio of uniquely inspired music videos for Grammy award-winning recording artists Gnarls Barkley, French-born DJ Vitalic, and Death Cab For Cutie. Grapevine Fires, the must see music video for alternative rockers Death Cab For Cutie, is the ingeniously animated story of a boy in search of his brother amidst a wildfire that decimates his neighborhood. This emotive story reflects the autobiographical lyrics of lead singer Ben Gibbons who was caught in the horrific 2007 California wildfires and witnessed the tragedy firsthand.

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 six divisions: Film, Television, 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.


The Creds:

Artist: Death Cab for Cutie
Song Title: Grapevine Fires
Air Date: March 2009

Prod Company: Merge @ Crossroads
Director: Walter Robot
EP: Joe Uliano
Producer: Walter Robot

www.crossroadsfilms.com

MPC Create Darkness For Depeche Mode’s ‘Wrong’

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/wrong_gag_thumb.jpg”]19194[/NEWS]Patrick Daughters directed ‘Wrong,’ Depeche Mode’s first single from their latest album, Sounds of the Universe. The dark promo shows us a car going backwards crashing into things with an unexpected outcome (not for the faint-hearted!) The promo was produced by Mute Records and Lana Kim at The Directors Bureau, with post by MPC. MPC supervisors from LA and London assisted the two night shoot in LA. To allow a timely workflow and for cleanup to start straight away, 2K scans were graded before the edit was approved. MPC’s main challenge was to remove the camera arm fixed onto the front of the car.

The 2D team had to paint out this arm on moving shots and patch pieces of clean road over the top, which was made harder by the fact that it was raining in the live action plate. The camera’s shadows and car reflections also had to be removed frame by frame as well as the stunt driver who was in the back seat steering the car.

Some of the hero’s action in the car had to re-shot using green screen. These shots needed a background tracked and composited, involving very complicated hair keying. This was achieved using Shake’s extensive keying tools.

The band was also shot green screen on a separate day in New York and the location material was shot later in Los Angeles. This material had to be composited and a light change over them had to be tracked to reflect the headlight interaction. For the final scene when the car crashes the actor had to be shot separately and composited.

Colourist Mark Gethin worked closely with Patrick Daughters to create the dark, moody atmosphere for the spot.

About MPC
MPC creates high-end digital visual effects and computer animation for the feature film, advertising, music and television industries. With studios based in Soho London, Santa Monica LA and Vancouver Canada, this award winning facility has worked on many high profile projects including The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Quantum of Solace and the classic Cadbury ‘Gorilla’s Moment’.

Credits
Track: Wrong
Artist: Depeche Mode
Record Company: Mute Records
Director: Patrick Daughters
Comissioner: John Moule
DoP: Shawn Kim
Production Company: The Directors Bureau
Production Company Producer: Lana Kim
Editor: Akiko Iwakawa @ Final Cut

For more information about MPC visit: www.moving-picture.com.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s Head

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/benbutton_head_main.jpg”]19193[/NEWS]The technical creativity involved in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has been admired by the general public and VFX specialists alike. Achieving the highest ‘commercial’ accolade possible with a 2009 Oscar win for best visual effects; it also took top honours at this year’s Visual Effects Society Awards. The film won four VES Awards including ‘best visual effects in a visual-effects-driven motion picture’ and ‘best single visual effect of the year’. All four prizes were awarded for work central to the title character’s head, which featured Brad Pitt’s face acting on an all-digital head and neck.

Even those people with knowledge of CGI work are surprised to hear that for approximately one third of the movie Benjamin Button is a 100% computer-generated head on a live actor’s body.

“There’s 325 shots — 52 minutes of the film — where there is no actual footage of Brad,” says Steve Preeg, a character supervisor at Digital Domain, the studio that created the majority of VFX for the film. “He’s not in any of the shots.”

DD VFX Supervisor Eric Barba was involved with the film from its inception and outlines details of where the CGI head begins and ends; and when Brad Pitt is left to fend for himself.

“The first “digital head” shot is the one we did for the test, where there’s a long dolly and pan until the audience sees Benjamin sitting at the table banging his spoon. That’s the first body actor for Ben in his 80s, as he grows younger we have another body actor take over for him in his 70s, when he goes out on the tugboat with Cap’n Mike and goes to the bar.”

“The bulk of our work is the “Ben 70″ character, and “Ben 60″ when he leaves home. One of our last shots is when he is reading the letter from Daisy on the back of the tugboat. The line where he tells the Captain, “Well you do drink a lot”, that’s where the real Brad takes over. “

With the body actor performing from the neck down, his head was replaced with one that was computer generated and based on Pitt’s performance. The character was created using a combination of VFX tools and techniques, some developed for the project at Digital Domain.

“For Benjamin Button we could not create the performance in animation, we had to translate it from Brad’s performance …. we shot him [Brad] performing the role on a sound stage with four HD cameras and used image analysis technology to get animation curves and timings that drove our proprietary deformation rig.” Barba explains.

It is generally believed that “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has set a new benchmark in the VFX community.

Quote:

Fincher has made a movie that will be endlessly debated, for its storytelling craft as well as for the overwhelming nature of its visual effects. LA Times Review 25 Nov 2008.


About Digital Domain
Since its founding in 1993 by film industry icons, Digital Domain has been a force and a change agent in the world of creative content. The digital production studio has built a legacy of achievement in visual effects, receiving six Academy Awards and listing Titanic, The Day After Tomorrow, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button among its 65+ film credits. A creative giant in the world of advertising, Digital Domain has earned scores of Clio, AICP, and Cannes Lion awards for some of the industry’s most memorable spots. A-list directors work with Digital Domain on features, advertising and projects that cross traditional media boundaries.

Digital Domain continues to push into new territory. The company is being recognized for its pioneering work in photo-real digital humans and productions that bring the worlds of films, advertising, games and the web closer together. Digital Domain is privately held and based in Venice, California.

RELATED LINKS:
www.digitaldomain.com
www.benjaminbutton.com

Sources:
Digital Domain Website

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Official Website

FXGuide Interview With Eric Barba -The Curious Case of Aging Visual Effects by Bill Dawes 01 Jan 2009 (view here)

Building The Curious Faces Of ‘Benjamin Button’ by Laura Sydell 16 Feb 2009 (view here)

Button tops Visual Effects Awards – Variety David S. Cohen 02 Feb 2009 (view here)

Crossroads Takes DJ Vitalic to a Land of Fantasy

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/vitalic_king_thumb.jpg”]19166[/NEWS]Crossroads’ directorial duo Walter Robot’s inventive visual style is the driving force behind a trio of inspired music videos for Grammy award-winning recording artists Gnarls Barkley, DJ Vitalic, and Death Cab For Cutie. Vitalic’s U and I finds an Average Joe on his way to work at his average job in a sprawling metropolis when his briefcase full of comic books flies away, luring him to an abandoned fenced off field. When he peers through a hole in the fence, he witnesses a fantasy world with a 21st century composer churning out fresh beats amidst a grooving sea of geometrically inspired shapes, trees and flowers.

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 six divisions: Film, Television, 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.

For more, go to www.crossroadsfilms.com

The Creds:
Artist: Vitalic
Spot Title: “U and I”
Air Date: November 2008

Prod Company: Merge @ Crossroads
Director: Walter Robot
DP: Suny Behar
EP: Joe Uliano
Producer: Walter Robot

Superfad Help More People Go With Visa

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/superfad_visa_go_thumb.jpg”]19005[/NEWS]Superfad recently contributed visual effects, design and editing to the ‘More People Go With Visa’ campaign, Visa’s first global advertising effort. The campaign celebrates that every day, people everywhere are on the go – whether satisfying basic needs or fulfilling lifelong dreams. When people are ready to go, Visa wants to them to go with a better way to pay – a way for them to go in control – confidently, securely and conveniently with Visa. In the United States, two national television spots – “Let’s go” and “Aquarium” – premiered on March 4 during “American Idol” on FOX.

“Let’s go,” which will introduce the campaign, portrays an optimistic view of life that focuses on the possibilities of a new day – from stepping outside your comfort zone to challenging yourself to do things differently – and positions Visa as the brand to help consumers achieve their dreams and ambitions.

Visa’s international markets will launch with a television commercial named “Gofesto.” The spot, which will be customized by each Visa region, takes viewers on a journey across the globe showing different people from different places enjoying what the world has to offer – from experiencing the great outdoors to taking simple trips to the supermarket.

The spot reminds cardholders that life is not about collecting possessions, but more importantly, about collecting experiences.


About Superfad

Superfad is a brand-driven design and live action production company. A collective of designers, directors, animators, and artists, their mission is to see brands in unexpected ways and to express a brand’s voice in an undeniably original fashion.

Superfad was founded in 2001 and has produced award-winning work for many of the most respected brands worldwide. Honda, Sony, Target, Adidas, and AT&T are just a few of the companies who have turned to Superfad for inspired branding.


Credits

Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
TBWA\Global Director Media Arts – Lee Clow Executive Creative Director – Rob Schwartz Creative Director – Patrick O’Neill Associate Creative Director – Gage Clegg Associate Creative Director – Becca Morton Associate Creative Director – Jason Busa Executive Agency Producer – Guia Iacomin Associate Producer – Chris Spencer

Production Company: Paydirt
Director – Iain Mackenzie
Executive Producer – Jonathon Kerr

VFX/Design/Edit Company: Superfad
Executive Producer – Kevin Batten
Creative Director – Justin Leibow
Senior Art Director – Kevin Lau
Head of Production – Angela De Oliveira
Producer – Camille Labouchere
Editor – Charles Jensen
VFX Supervisor/Flame Artist – John Shirley

Audio House: PLAY
Sound Mixer – John Bolen

Music and Sound Design: Stimmung
Sound Designer – Gus Koven
Song by New Order