There’s a bit of Déjà vu in the field of spot nominations for the 33rd annual Annie Awards competition, which recognizes outstanding achievement in animation. The Annies are presented by the Burbank-headquartered International Animated Film Society (ASIFA-Hollywood).
United Airlines’ “Mr. Pants,” directed by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis of Acme Filmworks, Hollywood, for Fallon, Minneapolis, was one of five Annie-nominated pieces in the commercials category. This marks the second consecutive year that a Tilby and Forbis-helmed United spot for Fallon received a nomination–and that ad, “Interview,” wound up being the Annie Award winner (SHOOT, 2/14, p. 1).
“Mr. Pants” was a SHOOT “Top Spot” (6/10, p. 12) earlier this year. The ad depicts a pair of legs–those of a businessman–waking up in the morning and showering, then hailing a taxicab to get to the airport. Along the way, the man encounters other legs as they do, well, the things that legs do–like play soccer, skateboard and walk along city streets. Whimsical, colorful and fun, “Mr. Pants” illustrates the message that United offers more legroom than any of the other airlines, and the spot makes it point without getting too literal. We never see the legs stretched out in an airplane seat.
Tilby and Forbis also served as production animators, along with Maximilian Graenitz. Others in the Acme contingent included executive producer Ron Diamond, senior producer Holly Stone, digital supervisor Michael O’Donnell, and offline editor/postproduction supervisor George Khair.
Rounding out the field of Annie commercial category nominees are: two pieces from Laika (formerly Vinton Studios), Portland, Ore….Coke’s “Futbol” for Buenos Aires agency Santo, and They Might Be Giants’ “Crazy Bastard”; General Electric’s “Tower” directed by Joe Pytka of PYTKA, Venice, Calif., with animation and effects from Quiet Man, New York, for BBDO New York; and ConocoPhillips’ “1975,” from Ring of Fire, West Hollywood, for Dailey & Associates, Los Angeles.
The latter, directed by Olivier Gondry of bicoastal/international Partizan, shows the passage of time through four decades and the survival of one tenacious 1970s model Pacer automobile. Opening in ’75, the spot pictures three friends in the Pacer, driving down a quaint city street. Immediately, we see the passengers’ clothing and hairstyles change as if traveling forward through time. Similarly, the entire surrounding city and its inhabitants are evolving as we’re taken from the ’70s into the 21st century. This time traveling continues until the driver pulls into a body shop to restore the Pacer to its youthful ’75 appearance, and then into a gas station to fill up with a tank of ConocoPhillips ProClean gasoline. The city and its evolution were created entirely in CG at Ring of Fire.
The Ring of Fire ensemble included executive producer John Myers, creative director Jerry Spivack, producer Casey Conroy, visual effects/CGI supervisor Greg Anderson, Inferno artists John Ciampa, Thomas Downs, Mark Robben, Joey Brattesani, Joanna Cruz and Clyde Beamer, lead CGI animator Dann Tarmy, CGI animators Loren Klein, Jason Thielen, Marcel Hemingway, Mark Wurts, Andy Tamandl and Joel Merritt, rotoscope artists Gary Mortensen, Jay Robinson and Josh Beal, matte painter Ron Crabb, with additional compositing/morphs by John Roden and Merritt.
QUIET MAN
GE’s “Tower” shows different animals perched upon each other, creating a tower that reaches the clouds. The base of this structure is a giant elephant, with a cast of thousands of animals of all varieties (tigers, camels, cows, etc.) extending toward the sky, the top two being a giraffe, with a gopher perched atop its head. The gopher sights a jet flying by. We then hear that the plane is powered by a GE engine that is eco-friendly–so much so that, as the voiceover relates, “even nature could approve.”
The Quiet Man team included animation director/effects supervisor Johnnie Semerad, Inferno effects artists Steve Koenig, Kim Harvey, Karen Heston, Charles Quinn, Chris Coleman, Peter Siodoriak and Jon Tomasello, lead CGI animators Kris Rivel and Boris Ustaev, CGI animators Sandor Toledo, Sam Cutriss, Anderson Ko, Michael Lasker, Will Clay and Charlie Breakiron, head of production Gray Hirshfield and on-set effects supervisor Dave Bernkopf.
LAIKA
Mark Gustafson of Laika directed Coke’s “Futbol,” a stop-motion animation :30 that pairs natural enemies (a fly and a fly swatter, a chicken and a cleaver-wielding chef, a tree and an axe-bearing logger). But before they can clash, their attention turns to a soccer game on a nearby TV set. The home team scores a goal, causing our ardent foes to embrace, united by their love of soccer
Other credits at the Laika studio go to exec producer Paul Golden, producer/head of production Lourri Hammack, art director Curt Enderle, production designer Craig Kelly, character designers Colin Batty, Mike Smith and Eric Wiese, storyboard artist Aaron Sorenson, graphics artist Jerry Kincade, sculptor Scott Foster, armaturist Jeanne McIvor, character fabrication artist Katie Mello, costumer Shere Coleman, model painters Sara Nieman and Faon Lewis, set fabrication artists Larry King, Darcy Nelson and Rob Melchior, scenic painter Kathleen Chamberlain, CG effects animation artist Patrick Van Pelt, and director of digital production/commercial division, Al Cubillas.
The other Laika nominee, a music video titled “Crazy Bastards,” presumably gained recognition in the spot category since the clip is being used as a sales vehicle for the rock band They Might Be Giants. The 2-D/cel animation piece shows an apprehensive man being chased by a crazed guy he doesn’t know. The darkly comedic chain of events was directed by Aaron Sorenson and Courtney Booker of Laika. The other Laika artisans included executive producer Jan Johnson, production manager and art production supervisor/coordinator Greg Rozum, character designer Sorenson, animators Sorenson, Eric Wiese, Brian Larson and Jesse Warnock, digital ink and paint camera/compositor and Mac composite artist Jenny Kincade, digital ink and paint scanning and painting artists Jon David Buffam, Jesse Geisheker and Doug Hout, Mac composite artist Booker, Flame artist Rex Carter and editor Cam Williams.
The Annie Awards competition honors outstanding animation achievement in features, TV programs, commercials, home entertainment and short subjects/special projects. Annie winners will be announced and honored at a gala awards ceremony on Feb. 4 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, Calif. ASIFA is the French acronym for Association Internationale du Film d’Animation, an organization founded 49 years ago in France by a group of professional animators. ASIFA was chartered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in ’60 to encourage the art of animation and further international understanding and goodwill through the animation medium. Currently there are ASIFA chapters in some 30 countries. The Hollywood chapter was founded in ’72.