West Hollywood-based visual effects house Ring of Fire offered a preview of a soon to be released Nike ad earlier this week during “Visual Effects in Commercials,” a show and tell featuring top work not only from Ring of Fire, but also Venice, Calif.-based Motion Theory and a pair of Santa Monica houses, Method Studios and The Syndicate.
The event–designed to showcase cutting edge commercial visual effects–was hosted in Culver City by 3D scanning company Eyetronics in cooperation with the Visual Effects Society.
“Pool” is the latest in Nike’s Lebron campaign, which features basketball star Lebron James playing various roles. It was helmed by Stacy Wall of bicoastal Epoch Films for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
This episode of the campaign features the Lebrons poolside. Ring of Fire previewed a portion of this spot that features a spectacular dive executed by Lebron–actually performed by a champion diver and incorporating face replacement to pull off the humorous effect.
To create the ad, Lebron was scanned using the Eyetronics on-set 3D scanning camera system, which Spivack said was a plus as they had a very short window with the athlete. “It’s really fast,” he said of the Eyetronics system. “The flexibility to bring it on set and shoot there was really great.”
Spivack reported that the complex production–lensed on location in Calabasas, Calif.–also incorporated matte paintings and greenscreen to produce a lush background.
Production also involved 3D, tracking and other effects techniques.
Additional session presenters included visual effects supervisor Ben Grossman of The Syndicate, who showed the last Energizer “Aliens” spot, during which the pink bunny helps power a spaceship. The Syndicate’s CG supervisor Luke MacDonald showcased the company’s effects-laden British Telecom “Network.”
Method Studios’ CG supervisor Laurent LeDrew, technical director Gil Baron and 3D lead artist James LeBlock showcased a unique breakdance in Pepsi’s “Dancetron.”
And Motion Theory’s senior art director Mark Kudsi and visual effects supervisor Vi Nguyen walked the audience through Electronic Arts’ “Mechanical Warriors” and HP’s “Pharrell.”
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More