Hasta La Motion!

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/mtndew_red_thumb.jpg”]20687[/NEWS]As part of Mountain Dew’s new logo launch, the brand team at Pepsi asked creative studio Buck to direct and produce a short animation exploring the evolution of the Dew Brand. Buck created a walk through history, from Dew’s country roots as a moonshine mixer through to modern urban times. Despite being based on 2D designs, Buck had to animate all background objects in 3D to allow smooth and speedy evolution as required by the fluid script. Buck used a combination of Illustrator, Photoshop, Maya and After Effects to ensure the entire look of the spot was consistent with the original hand-drawn style.

“Pepsi’s Mountain Dew brand team approached us directly for this project.” stated Buck Creative Director Orion Tait.” They frequently work with Fuel TV and had seen some of the network IDs we had done for the cable network. In re-launching Mountain Dew with a new logo, they requested some logo animations and 15 second spots that would speak to the brand and introduce the new logo in a fun and entertaining way.”

“ The brief was fairly open” continued Tait “based on the Fuel IDs, Mountain Dew felt we understood the tone and energy of their brand. They were completely open to technique and style, suggesting some content themes, based on their touchstones and brand initiatives, and then sent us away to concept. We love this type of open creative brief, and used our designers in both New York and Los Angeles for concepting.”

“We knew that the concept of a guy walking through history was going to be a challenge to get across in 15 seconds” Orion explained “In the end, we decided, with the client, that it was good to be chock-full of visual references and create something that could stand up to multiple viewings, always offering a new visual morsel. That being said, this visual approach did offer some challenges. It was a feat of choreography to animate so many objects in so little screen time. Even though in the end it feels hand made, like traditional cel animation, this amount of animation and the complexity of choreography was only achievable by using an intense amount of 3D.”

ABOUT BUCK
Specializing in design-driven creative, Buck’s directors and artists use animation, visual effects and live action to collaborate with clients, from concept to delivery, producing work that is visceral, innovative, and diverse. From offices in New York and Los Angeles, Buck works with a broad range of clients in the advertising, broadcast, retail and entertainment industries.

CREDITS
Production Company: Buck Design
Creative Directors: Thomas Schmid, Orion Tait
Producer : Erica Hirshfeld
Associate Producer : Kitty Dillard
Production Coordinator : Kevin Hall
Art Direction : Thomas Schmid
Cel Animation Director : Aaron Augenblick
3d Animation Director : Joshua Harvey
Technical Director : Paul America
Illustrator : Josh Cochran, Thomas Schmid
Cel Character Animation : Augenblick Studios
3d Animator : Joshua Harvey, David Soto, Adam Pearlman, Morgan James, Kevin Hall, Pete McDonald, Ish Nazmi, Jeff Su
Cel Animator : Thomas Scmid, Pete McDonald, Joe Mullen
Compositor : Conrad Ostwald, Emmet Dzieza
Designer : Ben Langsfeld, Yker Moreno
Editor : Sam Goetz
Music Composer: Adam Schlesinger
Additional Music Arrangement: Jared Gustat
Actor : Thomas Schmid
Client: Pepsi-Cola Company
Executive Producer, Mountain Dew: Barry Rosen
Director, Mountain Dew: Marisol Tamaro
Senior Manager, Mountain Dew: Brett O’Brien
Manager, Mountain Dew: Lisa Grey

RELATED LINKS
http://buck.tv