On May 31, the Monopoly Instant Game from the Michigan Lottery sprang to life with a television commercial that received significant creative support from all of the divisions of Farmington Hills–based Grace & Wild, Inc.
Central to the theme of the Monopoly Instant Game television commercial—created and produced by SMZ—was the ability to bring to life many of the game pieces from Hasbro’s popular Monopoly game in support of the latest Michigan Lottery scratch-off game. Thanks to computer-generated graphics, visual effects, and audio from Grace & Wild Studios; creative editorial by STS-Griot; and finishing by Postique, the commercial successfully merges the easily recognizable green house and silver hat, car, dog, and boot game pieces into a lifelike setting that includes an actual human being.
While the majority of their work took place during post-production, key players from Grace & Wild were involved during the ad planning as well as the shoot. Manager and creative director Brent Feeman of Grace & Wild Studios—were actively involved early on to ensure that shoot parameters took into account the challenges of post-production. “The requirements for this project were so specific and the timeline was so compressed that we were grateful for Grace & Wild’s involvement during the shoot to ensure they had what they needed to successfully add the computer graphics and visual effects later,” remarked Marguerite Parise, Producer at 1080, Inc., the agency that partnered with SMZ to shoot the commercial.
“By far, the biggest challenge for the Grace & Wild / STS-Griot / Postique team was to ensure a top-quality merging of the highly stylized toy world with a very real human setting, such that it would meet Hasbro’s tough approval standards and resonate with viewers who grew up playing Monopoly,” explained Feeman.
Joel Bienenfeld, producer at SMZ, agrees that the timeline and Hasbro requirements were the biggest challenges to the project. “We were grateful to have very experienced professionals on the Grace & Wild teams. From CGI and 3D matching through editing and finishing—their abilities combined to successfully meet the timing, creative, and communication challenges the project presented. And I’m happy to say the client was very pleased with the results.”
The final cut, released approximately one month from the start of the project, captures a seamless, augmented reality of an actual man wearing a silver top hat and walking into a large Monopoly green house with a silver car in the driveway. Once inside, viewers are treated to a realistic home environment that includes additional, realistic props, such as the Monopoly boot and dog. The upbeat audio and visuals—including samples of the three types of scratch-off tickets—leave viewers excited about the potential of earning from $20,000 to $1 million in the Monopoly Instant Game from the Michigan Lottery, where, as the announcer points out, the money is real!
CONTRIBUTING STAFF FROM GRACE & WILD, INC.:
Grace & Wild Studios CGI/VFX team:
· Manager/creative director Brent Feeman
· CGI artists Dan Olson and Max Lazzarin
· Senior animator/technical director Troy Wehner
Grace & Wild Studios Audio Post
· Audio engineer Spencer Hall
· Music director/audio assistant Evan Geller
Telecine: Senior colorist Rob Randall
Media specialist: Mike Pieronek
Producer: TJ Harlton
STS-Griot Creative Editorial
· Managing Editor Terry King
· Assistant Editor Chris Kozelnko
Postique Compositing/Finishing
· Senior Editor Tony Whitfield
Grace & Wild, Inc. offers a wide variety of creative and technical services within the audio, video, film and interactive production industry via its operating divisions Grace & Wild Studios, Postique, and STS-Griot. Clients include broadcast advertising agencies, business communicators, government entities, and entertainment companies. Capabilities include sound stage rental; studio and remote video production; motion picture processing and printing; film-to-video transfer; new media development specializing in interactive video and digital media; CGI/3D computer animation and effects; video editing; audio recording and mixing; creative editorial services and supervision; mass and custom duplication; 24P HD video equipment rental; and new media development, authoring, and replication. For demonstrations and information, contact Grace & Wild, Inc. at 23689 Industrial Park Drive, Farmington Hills, MI 48335, or call (248) 471-6010 or (800) 451-6010. www.gracewild.com
