The adidas spot “Made To Perfection” (see this week’s SHOOT Top Spot) has a cliffhanger ending, leaving everyone wondering what’s next for hoop stars Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady and Tim Duncan. Those curious enough to find out will visit the Web site teased at the end of the commercial, www.21121.com.com.
Produced by Razorfish, Portland, Ore., the Web site includes images from the set of “Made To Perfection” (more specifically the creator’s freaky studio), as well as an amazing animated sequel to “Made To Perfection” titled “The Journey.”
Created by the same team at TBWA/Chiat/Day, San Francisco, behind “Made To Perfection,” which was directed by Rupert Sanders of Omaha Pictures, Santa Monica, and featured visual effects by Method Studios, Venice, Calif., “The Journey,” illustrated, designed and directed by Ian Kovalik of Mekanism, San Francisco, finds Garnett, McGrady and Duncan traveling through time on a journey to basketball’s past, present and future. Their 3-D animated adventure combines the look of graffiti art with flat, cartoon-style animation.
“It was all done using the same 3-D techniques that they use in feature films,” explained Mekanism executive producer Tommy Means. “We started by building the characters as modelSáonce we built the models, we animated them, and once we had the animation down, we wrote this [proprietary] cartoon renderer that painted the characters and the environment.”
The color palette changes throughout “The Journey” to reflect the time and place in which the players stand. “The color palette was actually something that needed to look aesthetically beautiful but also help tell the story,” Kovalik shared. “So we chose the blue palette as a neutral grounding for the arena. When the spot begins and ends, it’s book-ended by that palette. Then as the players transition and go to the past, it has this sepia, old-fashioned feel. The present opens up with brighter more vivid blues, reds and purples, and then when we get to the future, we went with grays and a wild sprinkling of red.”
As for the look of the players, it was important that they were depicted in a way that they were identifiable and recognizable. Still, Kovalik did take some liberties. “We gave these guys hands maybe five times the normal size, and they had these huge shoes and big lanky limbs,” Kovalik said, noting that he was inspired by the work of Austrian artist Egon Schiele.
“The only thing that was exactly like the real person was the face,” Kovalik continued. “So we were kind of nervous about that, but the agency [creatives] were huge advocates, and they were like, ‘Just go for it. Push as hard as you can.’ “
SLAM DUNK
“The animation was so fresh,” remarked TBWA associate creative director/copywriter Scott Duchon, noting, “Ian is a madman. The dude did not sleep for a month straight [while he was working on this project].”
“We love that guy,” TBWA associated creative director/art director Geoff Edwards chimed in. “He is San Francisco’s Warhol.”
In fact, the creatives at TBWA enjoyed working with Mekanism and Kovalik so much that there may be more collaboration in the future. “We’ve actually talked to Mekanism about getting them involved early on in some future projects, keeping in mind that this Web site will be a destination that we continue to update,” Edwards said.
Additional credit for “The Journey” goes to TBWA’s executive creative director Chuck McBride, art director Brandon Mugar, copywriter Joe Rose and producer Andrea Bustabade.
Over at Mekanism, credit also goes to Stef Smith and Pete Caban, producers; Tom Gibbons, Andrew Schneider, Don Campbell and Neil Mischka, animators; Matt Ciofi, modeler; Jaan Shenberger, 2-D illustrator; and Vaughn Ross, storyboard artist.
J Bowman of San Francisco composed the music; Ren Klyce of Mit Out Sound/M.O.S., Sausalito, Calif., did the sound design with Misa Kageyama serving as executive producer.
Tweak Films, San Francisco, also contributed to the making of “The Journey,” with Oliver Moore as animation supervisor, Stephen Parker as compositor/environments, Cliff Mueller as animator and Francisco DeLaTorre as renderer.
The crew at Razorfish that produced www.21121.com comprised producer Morgan Odland, art directors Dave Williams and Paul Anders, copywriter Carl VanderZanden and developer Jered Cuenco.