SHORT CUTS
Carolyn Chen of bicoastal Believe Media directed "New Ball," a :90 film for Nike. Created by Nike’s Portland, Ore.-based in-house division, the digital film is part of a Nike project designed to communicate and promote the company’s point of view on soccer. Set in East Los Angeles, the story opens on an 11-year-old boy as he hurries home from a day at school. He is looking over his shoulder, nervous because a group of bullies are shadowing him. The boy increases his pace, then runs past a soccer field where sees a group of players on the field. A ball goes flying over the fence and the boy returns it, impressing one of the players. The next day, the boy finds a new Nike Total 90 Aerow ball. The little guy then practices with his ball, kicking the Aerow into a makeshift goal. Early the next morning, the boy walks into an alley where the bullies are waiting. The boy kicks the ball and hammers it into the chest of one of his tormentors, throwing him backward into an open dumpster. With new respect, the other bullies let the soccer champ pass. Believe Media’s Luke Thornton and Liz Silver were executive producers on the project, with Eli Shillock producing. The DP was Eric Foster.
Hollywood-based yU + co provided motion graphics design, computer animation and visual effects services for both the marketing campaign and the main title sequence of The Terminal, the Steven Spielberg feature. The studio’s design team collaborated with its recently formed visual effects department—yU + co [EFX]—to create a CG replica of an enormous "split flap" airport flight information board that spells out the film’s title and other messages. While cycling through familiar information about arrivals and departures, the board’s plastic flaps periodically serve up details about the movie’s plot. Through it, audiences learn that Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is caught in a legal limbo that forces him to live in an airport terminal. The main title sequence employs a similar device. In it, the camera zooms in on a static flight information board that suddenly springs to life. Its display flaps spin wildly before forming the words: "The Terminal." Initially, the effects with the flight information board were intended to be done practically, but that proved impossible as the board mechanism could not work fast enough. yU + co then came up with the approach of creating a digital replica of the sign so that its flipping panels could be controlled with complete freedom and precision. The company’s effects department created a 3-D model that was programmable, and animators detailed the model to precisely match the functionality and the look of the practical board used on the set in the film. The shot used in the main title sequence, where the camera pushes in on the flight information board, was selected from elements shot during the production of the film. As in the trailer, the sign’s display was replaced with a CG element. However, because the live action element was not shot with this purpose in mind, camera data was not kept and, as a result, yU + co artists had to track the CG element to the background by hand. Credits for yU + co go to Garson Yu, creative director; Jennifer Fong, executive producer; Buzz Hays, producer; Chris Vincola, Nate Homan and Mike Fisher, 3-D artists; and Danny Mudgett, Inferno artist.
MUSIC NOTES
Primal Scream, Los Angeles, worked on the music and sound design for Universal Orlando’s "Creep," via Los Angeles agency davidandgoliath. The :30, directed by The Brothers Strause for bicoastal HSI Productions, highlights the Universal attraction, "Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride." Composer/sound designer Julian Beeston created the suspenseful orchestration soundtrack, with Nicole Dionne as creative director/executive producer. Additional Primal Scream credits go to producer Katie Ward and technical director Scott Burton.
New York-based Tonic provided sound design and audio mix services for the Cinema DOC programming block on SKY Italia’s SKYCinema. Tonic’s Jun Mizumachi and mix engineer Brian Beatrice collaborated with Meccanica, New York, on the project. Meccanica’s Micha Riss was creative director/co-director and Man Wai Cheung was senior designer/co-director. SKY Italia is a broadcaster of sports, movies, entertainment and news. Cinema DOC features documentaries from around the world depicting a wide range of subjects related to the art of filmmaking and the history of cinema, as well as provocative self-produced original documentaries.
615 Music, Nashville, completed a sound redesign for CNBC, including all network promotional themes. 615 also worked on new themes for several of CNBC’s shows, including Your Money, Squawk Box, Power Lunch, Wake Up Call, Street Signs, Closing Bell, Kudlow & Cramer and Dennis Miller. Randy Wachtler is founder/president of 615 Music.
Marshall Grupp Sound Design and Music, New York, designed sound for a pair of :90 theatrical commercials promoting the recent Tribeca Film Festival in New York. The spots, which look like scenes from classic films, pay tribute to the cinematic art, as well as the idiosyncrasies of tried and true New Yorkers. Sound designer Marshall Grupp created richly textured sound effects tracks for "Gangsters" and "Love Story," helping to illustrate the stories of a mob hit and a romantic encounter on a rain-strewn street. The commercials were directed by John O’Hagan of bicoastal/international Hungry Man.
CLIPLAND
Click 3X used digital imaging technology to recreate the look of the early days of television in providing visual effects services for the Incubus music video "Talk Show on Mute." The studio teamed with director Floria Sigismondi of Revolver Film Company, Toronto, on the video, which casts the band as "guest stars" on a talk show called Stupid Human Trix. The video is made to look like a lowbrow television variety show circa early 1960s, but is set in an alternate world run by animals. Under the direction of the show’s wolf host, human beings in chains and leashes are herded onto a stage for the amusement of animal families watching at home. Click 3X’s visual effects team created the vintage TV look by degrading the imagery and replicating compositing techniques used in television 40 years ago, utilizing techniques commonly used in the ’60s—wipes, dissolves and switcher effects. The shop also performed extensive beauty work, including touching up some of the costumes worn by actors playing animals. Additionally, Click 3X created a graphical frame used to make some scenes appear as though they are being seen through the viewfinder of a TV camera, and composited video images into television sets for scenes involving the show’s home audience. Click 3X credits go to Flame artists Susan Armstrong, Mark Szumski and Jan Cilliers, and executive producer Jason Mayo.
Los Angeles-headquartered KromA provided visual effects services for the new N.E.R.D. video, "Maybe," the latest release from the group’s CD Fly or Die. The clip—which involved N.E.R.D. front man Pharrell pursuing a beautiful girl—was directed by Paul Hunter of bicoastal HSI Productions. KromA’s contribution to the video included a scene showing a bare-chested Pharrell looking at himself in a mirror. As he removes his jewelry, the tattoos that cover his arms suddenly vanish, an effect suggesting that he has traveled back in time. Bert Yukich was visual effects supervisor for KromA, with Amy Yukich exec producing.
