Pinnacle Studios, based in Seattle, and Digital Animations Group (DAG) of Bellshill, near Glasgow, Scotland, have entered into an affiliation. Per the arrangement, Pinnacle will represent DAG for commercials in the U.S. Additionally, the two companies plan to collaborate on various projects.
According to Warren Franklin, Pinnacle Studios’ president/ CEO, the primary aim of the agreement is to develop animated characters for television and Web advertising.
Pinnacle Studios creates graphics, digital effects, animation and combo live action/animation work. Credits include the Midwestern chain store Meijer’s "Tub" and "Freezer," two 3-D animated character/effects-heavy spots via Meyer & Wallis, Indianapolis. Pinnacle Studios’ design division, Theorem, designed the logos for network products company 3Com’s "Lights," "Coughing" and "Underneath the Desk," out of Lowe Lintas & Partners, New York.
Said Franklin, "We’re looking at ways to expand our capabilities and become more involved in the creation of characters for advertising, for both commercials and other media—Web sites and so forth."
DAG is the publicly owned company that created Ananova, the first real-time animated web news anchor (www.ananova. com). DAG boasts having its own "proprietary animation technology to complement the preprogrammed animation. We also have an audio production suite and a Web development team, creating a portal where these characters will exist," according to Mike Antliff, DAG’s founder/ creative director.
Franklin became aware of DAG when he read an article about Ananova: "I was very intrigued by that," he related. Franklin himself was not unfamiliar with character animation: At now defunct (Colossal) Pictures, he had worked on the Cartoon Network’s character Moxie.
Meanwhile, at DAG, "We were very keen on broadening our presence, particularly in North America," explained Antliff. San Francisco-based Lisa Cooke, who reps both companies for longform work in the U.S., brought them together. Franklin went to Scotland to meet with Antliff over the summer, and "things just developed from there," Antliff told SHOOT. The agreement was formalized about a week ago.
Both Franklin and Antliff want to develop animated characters, which they see as powerful branding tools. "We can deliver a strong image that clients can use in a practical way," stressed Antliff. "For example, insurance companies are very strongly branded, and many of them have characters as their logo devices. So now with the real-time technology, it can be a strong image but it can also work in a practical way, guiding you through information."
Antliff outlined DAG’s capabilities: "We have a suite of proprietary tools that we use in house to enhance our traditional animation process. So content and creationflin particular, the character animationflhave become speedier and reduced in cost. In the past, a minute of character animation would take a team of animators perhaps weeks to do. It’s now complete in a matter of minutes."
Franklin argued for the inherent versatility offered by the process: "With the real-time technology, we’re able to create new spots that can be updated on a regular basis and continue to evolve once you’ve done that initial character building. The character really becomes a spokesperson for the brand, and it has a lot of creative flexibility. … You have a virtual animatic of a spot, and you can still go back and use the traditional animation methods to get the exactly right expression, the right nuance. But the whole process goes a lot more quickly."
Antliff sees the U.S. as a fertile market for DAG’s digital creativity: "It seems that the agencies in the U.S. are very receptive to what we can offer, and we can be very competitive in our pricing. I think our animation skills are quite highly regarded, but the character technology is bringing a new twist to it. It’s no longer just preprogrammed content that is delivered straight to you. Now it can be online brands of characters that deliver information that’s up to the minute and customized to your own personal needs."
According to Franklin, currently he, Antliff and their reps are "actively looking for projects in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. We’re hoping that we can develop production capabilities both in Scotland and in Seattle, so that we can work together on projects."
Franklin observed, "In going out and just talking to all the major agencies over the last three or four months, it became clear to me that there’s a lot of value in creating characters that can really live in different areas and promote brands for the client. I was intrigued by the technology, and once I started discussing some of the challenges that the agencies were facing in terms of creating advertising for different types of media, the character work looked real central to being able to work effectively across a lot of different types of media."
He concluded, "Obviously our thrust right now is to develop a very strong focus on television advertising, and also on Internet advertising applications for these characters. Our goal is to work with the biggest brands in the country and establish some groundbreaking work that will get us out there."
Geraint Owen is Pinnacle’s executive producer, Mike Necci is animation director, and Eric Braff and Will Hyde serve as the firm’s creative directors. DAG staff includes development director Laurie McCulloch; studio supervisor Sam Assadian; animation supervisor Mikkel Caiafa and character supervisor Sergio Caires.
Pinnacle and now DAG are repped on the East Coast by New York-based Judy Wolff of Tomboy Films, and in the Midwest by Jack Lewis of Lewis & Associates, Chicago. Currently, Lynda Woodward of Woodward & Associates, Sherman Oaks, Calif., is repping just Pinnacle, on the West Coast.
