In this animation spot produced by FlickerLab, New York, for agency +SmithGifford, Falls Church, Va., (and a Spanish language version for ad shop Elevacion, Washington, D.C.), a moustached museum guard stands at the ready to protect a Virginia Lottery ticket on display. His nemesis, the mischievous Pink Panther, stealthily approaches, sliding across the gallery’s pink walls to camouflage himself from view.
The Panther’s arm then reaches out, grabs the guard’s cap and tosses it across the room, causing the sentry to leave his post. This frees the Panther to abscond with the lotto ticket but doing so sets off an alarm and overhead lights.
Seeking a new hiding place, the Panther jumps onto the lottery ticket–after all the game has a “think pink” theme, not to mention a potential $12,000 payoff. The guard returns with the Pink Panther nowhere in sight. Then the Panther’s paw reaches out from the ticket, snatches the guard’s hat and again flings it across the room. The Panther then makes good his escape. The spot concludes with a tag telling us about the new Virginia Lotto scratch-off game.
The commercial has been running on TV and cinemas in Virginia.
The FlickerLab ensemble of talent included director/creative director Harold Moss, exec producer Tammy Walters, background designers Max Porter and Bryan Cox, storyboard artist Frank Gresham, producer Franklin Zitter, 2D animators Nikolay Nachev, Thomas Smolenski, Alisa Harris and Jessica Milazzo, After Effects animator/compositor Bryan Cox and animatic editor Dan Rosen.
The creative team at +SmithGifford consisted of president/art director Matt Smith, creative director Bruce Gifford, copywriter Drew Magary and producer Dana Cole.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More