Nexus directors Smith & Foulkes have worked their own brand of black magic for Australian agency the Campaign Palace, creating a brilliant CG animation for the launch of the new Panasonic Neoplasma television. Running through some of the dark associations that can be made with black, under a classic B-movie voiceover, the film ends with an explosive celebration of the fact that black allows other colours to stand out. To avoid an overly slick feel, Smith & Foulkes cleverly combined a ‘fixed model’ approach with the infinite flexibility of computer animation. This allowed the transitions from character to character to be funny and exciting whilst being executed with Nexus’ trademark precision. Smith & Foulkes added, “We’ve spent a lot of time recently inventing labyrinthine technicoloured universes of animated tomfoolery and a lot of dancing robots. Which is fine by us. But occasionally it’s nice to get our hands on something a little more minimalist. A simple lump of ‘black’, whatever that is, that can instantly transform from one thing to the next. The biggest trap to fall into with this format is to turn it into a bit of a list. So the challenge for us was to keep the ’see what you say’ narrative interesting, surprising and fun throughout. We wanted the design of the characters to have the extra sophistication that would suit the ‘high-end’ product, so we worked with the designer Mark Gmehling whose incredible character designs we have long admired.”
Client: Panasonic; Agency: The Campaign Palace; Creative Team: Nic Buckingham & Hywel James; Agency Producer: Katrina Maw; Production Company: Nexus; Director: Smith & Foulkes; Executive Producers: Julia Parfitt; Producer: Luke Youngman; Project Lead: Michael Greenwood; Illustrator / Designer: Mark Gmehling; Animation: Nexus; Compositing: Hugo Guerra; Sound Design: 750mph (London) / Nylon Studios (Sydney)
The Undeniable Voice of Art
Creative Growth, the first organization dedicated to supporting artists with developmental disabilities, has teamed up with creative marketing company, John McNeil Studio to unveil its new brand. Representing 50 years of elevating the work of artists with disabilities within the arts community, Creative Growth’s new brand campaign includes a new identity and logo, new positioning, brand film and a redefined strategy centering on the ‘undeniable voice of art.’ Creative Growth’s evolved brand is at the forefront of a shift towards art that stands for the inherent reveal — the power of artistic expression to bring understanding and connection to us all. The brand’s new expression includes unobtrusive color and design choices that purposely don’t compete with the voice of the artist and instead, serve as a container for the art to have a voice of its own. Executive Creative Director, Gerald Lewis of John McNeil Studio explains “We needed to create a powerful, distinctive voice for the brand. But, it couldn’t compete with the voice of the artists because in the end, the art has to speak. It had to be simple, honest and genuine, in line with the mission of Creative Growth. Artists will spend 30 years making work, honing their craft and following their voice inside this space. We wanted to celebrate that. So, while the mark, the brand, is simple and honest, it’s also expansive and energetic.” Kicking off the new brand campaign is a short film capturing the voice of artist William Scott as he walks through downtown Oakland and enters... Read More