second spot affords only enough time to scratch the surface of a subject, but in the case of a Texas Lottery spot from GSD&M, Austin, Texas, thats all thats necessary.
Rodeo features a multilayered arena with cutout live-action footage of a crowd of spectators and a bronco-ridin cowboy who bursts through a gate. A hand enters the scene and, with a coin, scratches away portions of the crowd, eventually revealing that: There are over 500,000 scratch-off winners every day. As the crowd cheers wildly, the hand hovers over the bucking cowboy and the screen cuts to a yellow background with a logo, Get Scratching, and the cowboy bursts through, only to be thrown off his bronco.
The commercial is a composite of paper photo animation, including a series of photos printed from live-action rodeo footage, stock footage of crowds and a cowboy on a bronco, according to director/designer Chel White of bicoastal Curious Pictures. We added several scenes and angles to the agency boards, which concentrated on the scratching out of the ticket, continued White. We then combed through stock footage to find some great audience and cowboy imagery. The only thing we shot for the spot was a hand-lensed greenscreen and some title cards. This was a massive Flame job, which took a week to complete.
GSD&M creative director/ copywriter Alon Shoval said of White, We needed an animator who could bring together, in a homogeneous way, the very diverse elements we were incorporating into ARodeo. Chels work, which he calls 2fi-D animation, was perfect for us. He was able to take all the stock footage, cut it out and, with the other elements, create this great world of 2fi-D.
Curious exec. producer David Starr described Whites methodology as traditional animation techniques, like stop-motion, enhanced with digital tools. It results in organic textures with dramatic movement.
John Gilliland of production company Mosca Films/Ammo, Austin, obtained the stock footage from photographer Ramsey Telly of Rodeo Circus, Austin.
GSD&Ms contingent included Shoval, creative director/art director Tom Gilmore and producer Sara Cherry.
The Curious ensemble consisted of White, exec. producers Starr and Richard Winkler, producer Molly Moore, DP Mark Eifert, lead animator Laura DiTrapani, 2-D animator Aaron Browne and coordinator Trina Fairchild.
At Downstream, Portland, Ore., Kelly McClean offlined and Jim Barrett was colorist; chief compositing artist Mike Quinn handled the Flame work and Lance Limbocker provided sound design and audio post. The greenscreened hand shots were lensed at Joe Marks Studio, Portland.
-Millie Takaki
Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. Explore Generations, Old School vs. New School, In “Poppa’s House”
Boundaries between work and family don't just blur in the new CBS sitcom "Poppa's House" starring father-and-son comedy duo Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. They shatter.
"It's wonderful to come to work every day and see him and some of his kids and my sister and my brother and nieces and nephews. They all work on this show. They all contribute," says the senior Wayans. "I don't think there are words to express how joyful I am."
Wayans plays the titular Poppa, a curmudgeonly radio DJ who's more than comfortable doing it his way, while Wayans Jr. plays his son, Damon, a budding filmmaker who's stuck in a job he hates.
"My character, Pop, is just an old school guy who's kind of stuck in his ways," says Wayans, who starred in "In Living Color" and "My Wife and Kids."
Pop yearns for the days when a handshake was a binding contract and Michael Jordan didn't complain if he got fouled on the court. Pop laughs at the younger generation's participation trophies.
"It's old school versus new school and them teaching each other lessons from both sides," says Wayans Jr., who played Coach in the Fox sitcom "New Girl."
"They (the characters) bring the best out in each other and they're resistant initially. But then throughout the episode they have revelations and these revelations help them become better people," he adds.
The two have worked together before — dad made an appearance on son's "Happy Endings" and "Happy Together," while son was a writer and guest star on dad's "My Wife and Kids." But this is the first time they have headlined a series together.
The half-hour comedy — premiering Monday and co-starring Essence Atkins and Tetona Jackson — smartly leaves places in the script where father and son can let... Read More