In a series of animated :30s for Efficiency Vermont, a nonprofit organization providing energy-saving advice to households and businesses across the state, we are introduced to Jessie “Fewer” Watts, a compact fluorescent light bulb hero character who saves the day (and energy) in varied cowboy western genre scenarios. In this :30 titled “The Round Up,” Jessie gets an SOS from a town bar keeper imploring him to “come quick– a band of outdated light-sources is terrorizing the town.” The thugs turn out to be three incandescent bad guys threatening the peace of the townsfolk. Jessie shows up and lassos the three thugs around their sockets and justice is served.
A voiceover advises, “Round up the six most used light bulbs in your home and replace them with compact fluorescents. You can save up to $200 in the long run.”
Animation/CG director of the three spots was Scott Matz of Thornberg & Forester (T&F), New York, for agency Kelliher Samets Volk in Burlington, VT.
Matz–who also served as editor and compositor–had a T&F support team that included executive producer Elizabeth Kiehner, producer Joe Glass, modeling/set design artist Dan Fine, animator/character rigger Nick Johnnides, animators Taryn McGlaughlin and Bradley McGlaughlin, and final lighting and rendering artist Paul Liaw.
The agency team consisted of chief creative officer Linda Kelliher, creative director/art director/copywriter Bill Stowe and producer Tamara Jones.
The Tales of Jessie “Fewer” Watts spots were created in Maya with compositing done in After Effects. The characters will also be incorporated into the dedicated Efficiency Vermont website (http://www.newbulbintown.com/meetJesseWatts/) and a print campaign.
Supreme Court Seems Likely To Uphold A Law That Could Force TikTok To Shut Down On Jan. 19
The Supreme Court on Friday seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States beginning Jan. 19 unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company.
Hearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns, the justices seemed persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company's connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech either of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States.
Early in arguments that lasted more than two and a half hours, Chief Justice John Roberts identified his main concern: TikTok's ownership by China-based ByteDance and the parent company's requirement to cooperate with the Chinese government's intelligence operations.
If left in place, the law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April will require TikTok to "go dark" on Jan. 19, lawyer Noel Francisco told the justices on behalf of TikTok.
At the very least, Francisco urged, the justices should enter a temporary pause that would allow TikTok to keep operating. "We might be in a different world again" after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, also has called for the deadline to be pushed back to give him time to negotiate a "political resolution." Francisco served as Trump's solicitor general in his first presidential term.
But it was not clear whether any justices would choose such a course. And only Justice Neil Gorsuch sounded like he would side with TikTok to find that the ban violates the Constitution.
Gorsuch labeled arguments advanced by the Biden administration' in defense of the law a... Read More