This animation spot opens with a flyover view of a green and lush metropolis. Rendered in a modern and soft color palette, petrol engine characters ride on bicycles down a tree-lined street. In the next scene, petrol engines and electric motors are riding in tandem, with the petrol engines occasionally kicking back and relaxing while the electric motor does all the work. They pedal happily through city streets and parks, passing by a gas station where lonely petrol engines guzzle up fuel. In the final “reveal,” the tandem bike riders–working to deliver fuel efficiency and clean power–pass by a lake and reflected back in the water is a Toyota Prius driving along.
Jake Banks of Stardust directed this :60 for Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon, Tokyo. Intended for European and Asian markets, the piece had to work across different cultures and languages. Stardust handled the project from start to finish, spanning production, animation and postproduction.
A team of 10 in Stardust’s Santa Monica office worked on the spot over the course of 15 weeks. Modeling and animation was done in Autodesk Maya, while matte painting was done in Adobe Photoshop. Mental Ray was used for rendering.
Review: Director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked”
It's the ultimate celebrity redemption tour, two decades in the making. In the annals of pop culture, few characters have undergone an image makeover quite like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Oh, she may have been vengeful and scary in "The Wizard of Oz." But something changed — like, REALLY changed — on the way from the yellow brick road to the Great White Way. Since 2003, crowds have packed nightly into "Wicked" at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre to cheer as the green-skinned, misunderstood Elphaba rises up on her broomstick to belt "Defying Gravity," that enduring girl-power anthem.
How many people have seen "Wicked"? Rudimentary math suggests more than 15 million on Broadway alone. And now we have "Wicked" the movie, director Jon M. Chu's lavish, faithful, impeccably crafted (and nearly three-hour) ode to this origin story of Elphaba and her (eventual) bestie — Glinda, the very good and very blonde. Welcome to Hollywood, ladies.
Before we get to what this movie does well (Those big numbers! Those costumes!), just a couple thornier issues to ponder. Will this "Wicked," powered by a soulful Cynthia Erivo (owner of one of the best singing voices on the planet) and a sprightly, comedic, hair-tossing Ariana Grande, turn even musical theater haters into lovers?
Tricky question. Some people just don't buy into the musical thing, and they should be allowed to live freely amongst us. But if people breaking into song delights rather than flummoxes you, if elaborate dance numbers in village squares and fantastical nightclubs and emerald-hued cities make perfect sense to you, and especially if you already love "Wicked," well then, you will likely love this film. If it feels like they made the best "Wicked" movie money could buy — well, it's... Read More