As the National Basketball Association playoffs reach the conference finals stage, many of the game’s biggest stars–including NBA MVP Steve Nash whose Phoenix Suns are still in the hunt for this season’s championship title–are featured in a Web-only video on nikebasketball.com. The slightly longer than a minute-and-a-half piece, What’s Your Game About, was produced by Nike Brand for interactive agency R/GA, New York, with design and animation from bicoastal Stardust Studios.
As we see the star athletes strut their stuff–some individually, others in concert with one another–on the court, their moves are accompanied by design and animation custom-tailored to match Nike’s Flight, Force and Uptempo brands. Among the players featured are Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli.
The piece has a pickup game feel yet is kicked up a stylish notch by the design and animation signifying the Nike line, with word elements that convey attitude such as “Change the game,” “Switch lanes” and “Break ankles.” Stardust’s work entailed the artistic use of Maya, Cinema 4D, and Adobe AfterEffects and Creative Suite.
The short was directed by Joseph Cartman and Harshal Sisodia of Nike Brand. Can Misirlioglu of R/GA served as editor/audio mixer. R/GA’s Nate Jenkins also was an audio mixer on the job.
The Stardust ensemble was headed by executive creative director Jake Banks, exec producer Eileen Doherty, senior producer Michael Neithhardt, art director/lead animator Doug Purver, art director Felipe Posada, animator Daniel Garcia and 3D artist Cary Janks.
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