Visual effects talent from Framestore-CFC, London and New York, earned two of the three nominations for the outstanding visual effects in a commercial category in the 4th Annual Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards. The third nomination went to artists from Venice, Calif.-based Digital Domain (DD).
Both companies have dominated the commercial visual effects category since the debut of the VES Awards in 2003. Framestore won the commercial trophy in the first and second year that VES bestowed the awards, and was a finalist for its spot work a year ago. DD earned a nomination for spot work in year one and a pair of commercial nominations in year two. Also of note, every nomination and win in this category for Framestore–this year and in the past three years–were helmed by Daniel Kleinman, who now maintains Kleinman Productions in London. And DD’s current and past nominations in the spot category were all directed by David Fincher of bicoastal Anonymous Content.
This years’ commercial nominees are: William Bartlett, Scott Griffin, Jake Mengers, and Andrew Boyd for Framestore’s Esuvee “Keep it on all Fours”; Bartlett, Griffin, Boyd and Dan Seddon for Framestore’s Guiness “noitulovE” (a.k.a. “Evolution”); and Eric Barba, Lisa Beroud, Janelle Croshaw, Greg Teegarden for DD’s Motorola “PEBL.”
The Kleinman-directed “Keep it on all Fours” was conceived by BBH, New York. It features a rodeo scene, where competitors ride strange CG beasts called “Esuvees”–creatures intended to personify the spirit of the vehicles.
“NoitulovE,” helmed by Kleinman, was created by London’s AMV BBDO and essentially starts at the end, as it were, with three men in a bar raising their pints and enjoying their first sip of Guinness. The men move in backwards-motion out of the bar and into the street. We follow them a few paces, noticing that their clothing has already become Edwardian. Scenes continue to shift backward and down the evolutionary chain where viewers see prehistoric flightless bird creatures, tiny dinosaurs, and finally mudskippers.
Kleinman also directed Framestore’s prior VES wins in the commercials category: XBOX’s “Mosquito” in 2003 and Johnnie Walker’s “Fish” in 2004, as well as last year’s nominee, Johnnie Walker’s “Tree”.
This year’s evolution theme continued in Motorola’s “PEBL,” which teamed DD with Fincher. Here the spot features photoreal CG imagery representing Motorola’s new PEBL phone, and the spot is a trip through the ages–a time lapse through thousands of years of evolution. The spot was created by 180 Communications, Amsterdam.
Fincher also helmed previous VES commercial category nominees for DD: adidas’ “Mechanical Legs”; “Nike Gamebreakers” and Nike’s “Speed Chain.”
This year, Fincher also helmed a nominee for outstanding visual effects in a music video, Nine Inch Nails’ “Only”, which was created at DD and earned nominations for Jay Barton, Jim Gaczkowski, Barba and Beroud. Rounding out this category is The Chemical Brothers’ “Believe” from Ben Cronin, Rebecca Barbour, Andrew Boyd, Jamie Isles, who created the visual effects at Framestore; and Bert Yukich of Los Angeles-based Kroma for the visual effects on Rob Thomas’ “Lonely No More.” The 4th Annual VES Awards will recognize outstanding visual effects in 20 categories of film, television, commercials, music videos and games. Nominees were chosen on Jan. 7 by a panel of over 60 visual effects professionals, all VES members, who viewed hundreds of entries at the screening facilities of FotoKem in Burbank. A complete list of nominees can be found at www.vesawards.com.
The awards process continues with the VES Show and Tell, which will be held Jan. 21 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Winners will be announced at the 4th Annual VES Awards on Feb. 15 at the Hollywood Palladium.