SHORT CUTS
Tape House Toons (THT), New York, is handling all production duties for seven new episodes of "TV Funhouse," airing on Saturday Night Live this season, and two episodes of Comedy Central’s new series of the same name. THT’s duties include all of the animation, from storyboards to compositing. Additionally, sister company Tape House Editorial, New York, will work on all of the post. Past segments include "The Ambiguously Gay Duo," X-Presidents" and "Fun With Real Audio." For this season, THT has worked on "The New Adventures of Mr. T.," "The Trespassers," and "The Baby, The Immigrant and The Guy on Mushrooms." THT’s Don McGrath served as director/lead animator/designer, Dave Lipson was producer/co-director, and Rob Issen was senior producer.
New York-based Balsmeyer & Everett created the opening sequence for HBO Sports’ new weekly show, On the Record With Bob Costas. The opening features a condensed cab ride with Costas, as he races for HBO’s downtown studio. On the way, the viewer sees New York City as a world of sports. A giant Tiger Woods takes a swing on 42nd Street; the zipper in Times Square transforms into a reprise of Mark McGwire’s 62nd home run, and Allen Iverson dribbles up West Broadway, among many other sports-related scenes. For Balsmeyer & Everett, Randy Balsmeyer was director, Amit Sethi was director of animation and postproduction, Matt McDonald was key compositor, DP was Daniel Marracino, and Kathy Kelehan was producer. Additional animation and effects were contributed by J. John Corbett and Dan Tresize.
Chalice, Silicon Grail’s 2-D compositing software, was recently used by Station X Entertainment (formerly Station X Studios), Santa Monica, to create visual effects for a Butterball :30. The commercial, via Grey, New York, shows that Butterball lunch meats are so special they literally make the sandwich. The ad blends stop-motion animation and 3-D computer animation created by Station X, with Chalice playing a key role in enabling compositors to piece it all together. Among the most challenging aspects of the projects involved a box of lunch meat, a 3-D element that bends and twists like a conductor as it orchestrates the construction of the mammoth sandwich. Credits for Station X go to executive producer Jennifer Bergman; producer Anne Miller; visual effects supervisors Greg Teegarden and Alan Chan; digital artists Denis Samoilov, Richard Morton, Rob Glaser, Jeff Dierstein and Luke McDonald; and compositor Scott Cegielski.
MUSIC NOTES
Music Annex, a recording and post company with facilities in San Francisco and Menlo Park, Calif., has changed its name to Annex Digital.
Ed Choi of New York Noise completed the score for The Dish, a feature directed by Rob Sitch for Warner Bros. and Working Dog Pictures. The film, slated for a March release, stars Sam Neil.
John Adair of Admusic, Santa Monica, composed the track for Bud Light’s "Towel," via Fusion Idea Lab, Chicago. In the :30, a man gets caught in a hotel hallway in his birthday suit, which turns out to be an unexpected surprise for a lady across the hall.
