Seriously’s sixth Best Fiends animated short, The Immortal Cockroach, features the voice of Maurice LaMarche (Futurama, Zootopia) as the main character, Lapoleon.
Alongside LaMarche is award-winning actress Pamela Adlon (Better Things, Californiacation) and actor David Herman (Office Space). The feature film quality short was directed by Augusto Schillaci and produced by Golden Globe-nominated Reel FX Animation Studios, which is best known for its work on Ice Age and Despicable Me.
Client Seriously/Best Fiends Visual Effects/Animation Reel FX Animation Studios, Dallas Augusto Schillaci, director/art dir/VFX supervisor; Rod Douglas, storyboard artist; Vincent Bisschop, Federico Moreno Breser, Nicolas Villareal, art dept; Tom Jordan, modeling supervisor; Douglas Bell, rigging supervisor; Steve Eger, Joe Porritt, Alex Salmar, rigging; Megan Shaffer, surfacing supervisor; Jeff Huard, Daniel Smith, surfacing; Chris Browne, character FX supervisor; Yuri Martell, matte painting; Dan West, layout lead; Andre Alvarenga, Thomas De Maleingreau, Sean Monteagudo, layout; Eddy Lowinski, FX supervisor; Tony Fan, Evan Robinson, Jyota Malcolm, Matthieu Bruneau, FX; Keenan Proffitt, environment supervisor; Elyse Roy, environment; Martin Ferland, animation supervisor; Kirby Atkins, Kosta Dracopaulos, Jason Park, Justin Ustel, Syuan-Ru Wu, Anna Masquelier, Tiago Ferreira, Chris Burnham, Helene Papet, animation; Kelsey Craig, Jessica M. Hogan, ltg supervisor; Lighting: Luiz Fernando Araujo, Jillian Blair, Melissa Gilbreath, Tim Goransson, Srabani Halarnkar, Swapnil Halarnkar, Pierre Lauret, Alice Lepoutre, Anthony Russo, Randy Tecson, ltg; Seth Schwartz, CG supervisor; John Anderholm, technical supervision; John Levanas, TD; Ted Lebeau III, render supervision; Aldo Victoria, render wrangler. Additional Modeling/Surfacing McFly Studio. Additional Modeling/Surfacing and Animation/FX Agora Studio (Toolbox: Maya, Nuke)
The 2024 Christmas ad from John Lewis department stores has arrived. This year’s much anticipated TV commercial, continuing the Xmas tradition of John Lewis, is the two-minute “The Gifting Hour" created by Saatchi & Saatchi UK and directed by Francois Rousselet via production house Riff Raff.
In the ad, the heroine, Sally, has left it a little late to find the right gift for her sister this year and races into a John Lewis store at closing time. Falling through a rack of dresses, she enters a fantastical world. We first see her stumbling out of the wardrobe in the attic of her childhood home and from here we are taken on a whimsical journey through her memories as she searches for the ultimate present, against the clock.
Returning to the store and back to reality she has found the perfect gift, ready and wrapped. Sally then heads outside and has a special moment with her sister who will be the gift’s recipient. As they walk away we see her sister reflected in the John Lewis window as the child from her memories.
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