Commercial animation director Rohitash Rao has joined ShadowMachine for exclusive U.S. spot representation. His credits include commercial and music video projects for Crunch, Nike, Snapple, Volkswagen and The Great Big World. Rao has completed his first assignment since coming aboard ShadowMachine: a six-spot animated musical campaign for Arizona community DMB/Verrado via Cecillian Worldwide. He is currently working on a project for recording artist Beck and Capitol Records via ShadowMachine.
For the DMB/Verrado package of commercials, creative director Jay Hoeschler of Cecillian Worldwide initially approached Rao about adapting the client’s print campaign for broadcast. “We had these fun print illustrations from Belgium artist Martin Haake, and they were just begging to be animated,” remarked Hoeschler. “I’ve always loved Rao’s work, and knew he and ShadowMachine were the guys to bring them to life.” The director proposed a series of mini music videos with a Flight of the Concords feel, each focusing on an aspect of the Verrado lifestyle. Hoeschler and the client loved the idea. The project was a go, and the spots are now airing in Arizona to great response.
Prior to his joining ShadowMachine, Rao directed a Hallmark project and his popular stop-motion Gummy Bear Xmas music video via the production company which is active in commercials, music videos, TV and feature film. Along with his longtime writing partner Peter Nelson, Rao also created a short for ShadowMachine’s new Comedy Central show, TripTank.
In addition to TripTank, ShadowMachine is producing the series BoJack Horseman for Netflix and a feature titled Hell and Back, which is slated for release this year. “The time was right for me to oversee the commercial division in addition to directing, and to cultivate a roster beginning with Rao,” explained Jed Hathaway, ShawdowMachine’s head of commercial production (who recently helmed an assignment for So Cal Honda).
Rao, who moved to LA in 2012 after a successful tenure at Curious Pictures, was producing a lot of content out of his Venice studio, “but the jobs were getting bigger,” he said. “ShadowMachine has a stellar crew with a high pedigree of animators coming off expansive film and TV projects. When I met [ShadowMachine co-founder] Alex Bulkley, we were aligned immediately. He opened the studio doors to me.”
Born in Hyderabad, India, Rao relocated to Southern California as a child and graduated from the Art Center College of Design with a BFA in Advertising. He began his career as an art director at several agencies throughout the U.S. and eventually became a creative director at the SyFy Channel in New York. There, his love of animation really kicked in. Rao began shooting short films in his garage and in 2005 one of his films was part of the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase at the Cannes Advertising Festival. His work also has garnered attention from the One Show, D&AD, the Clio’s, Rolling Stone, the Webby’s, Entertainment Weekly and ABC’s “Funniest Commercials.” Rao’s short films have played in over 25 film festivals around the world including, Tribeca (New York), Ottawa (Canada), Annecy (France) and the Spike and Mike “Sick and Twisted” Animation Festival. He has co-authored and illustrated the children’s book trilogy “Herbert’s Wormhole” (Harper Collins) and is currently at work on the first in a new book series entitled “Creature Keepers,” due out in 2015. Additionally, Rao created an animated pilot for 20th Century Fox entitled “Rancho Cucamonga” based on his life and executive produced by Lorne Michaels.
