By Nicole Rivard

One would never know that compressed schedules and tightened budgets are issues still weighing heavily on those working in the post, editing and visual effects communities from the recent work that can be seen on TV and the Internet. The work has been so impressive that SHOOT introduced a quarterly TOP 10 Visual Effects/Animation Chart this fall, which showcased the best work of the summer.
    And earlier this month the effects intensive “Pop-Up” earned coverage as SHOOT’s Top Spot of the Week. Oskar Holmedal of the directing collective Stylewar directed this spot for Lexus. R!ot, Santa Monica and a52, Santa Monica, handled post/visual effects, and the editor was David Henegar of Butcher Editorial, Santa Monica. Part of the “Actively Safe”-themed campaign, “Pop-Up” promotes the Lexus RX’s active safety features, which help drivers avoid accidents, by telling the tale of the “safest accident” via a gigantic pop-up book. As the pages of the book turn, we see a Lexus RX facing hazards from rocky terrain to ice-slicked city streets and learn in the end that the safest accident is the one that never happens. The “miniature approach” was taken for the spot–Holmedal and his team built a 30-foot-tall green screen book frame with pages that could be turned by stagehands, and then the actual pop-up book itself, which was a more manageable six feet tall. Holmedal and DP Toby Irwin then shot footage of the stagehands turning the pages of the giant green screen book.
    Holmedal and Irwin then turned their attention to the six-foot tall pop-up book, shooting it opening and closing and capturing the animated movements within the pages. All of the elements were later married together at a52. VFX supervisor Andy Hall and lead Flame artist Raul Ortego, both of a52, likened working on the project to putting together a giant puzzle with moving parts. Hall says that the Lexus project was the most challenging spot he’s worked on in 2007, and pointed out that overall the most pressing issue the industry continues to face is one of expectation, in terms of time and resources. “Smaller teams are needed but with great productivity because of the financial constraints that significantly affect the way the resources are distributed,” Hall relates.
    Kevin Rafferty, VFX supervisor at The Orphanage, San Francisco, agrees that compressed postproduction schedules continue to pose a challenge. “Ever since the incredible achievement, both visually and production schedule-wise, of War of the Worlds, studios have adopted this type of schedule as the norm rather than the exception. With schedules so tight, now it’s almost always necessary to split the work up among various facilities,” Rafferty explains. “What can easily be lost in a situation like this is visual integrity and continuity across the entire show. But it is a reality that is here to stay.”
    Another reality that seems to be here to stay is that effects houses are presented more often with the opportunities to create work from concept to finished piece. More and more, studios are requesting the assistance of VFX facilities earlier on in production to help them visualize the shots and sequences, as well as strategize about methodologies, according to Rafferty.  “Many facilities now have their own pre-visualization team of artists. This was indeed the case with the Saab “Reborn” spot [which Rafferty worked on].”
    In the commercial, a jet engine blast fuels a fireball around the 2007 9-3. Then, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the 2008 9-3 is reborn. “Once the spot was awarded to The Orphanage,” says Rafferty, “we immediately began the pre-visualization process with the director, Joseph Kahn. I took his shooting boards, and timed out a board-a-matic. Our pre-viz artists used the board-a-matic to block out all of the shots in the commercial. We basically had the whole spot pre-visualized before the pre-production meeting. Joseph and I literally sat down in the pre-pro meeting at my laptop and made last-minute changes to the pre-viz commercial in Final Cut Pro, with all the clients there to approve. We then took that pre-viz with us to the shoot, which brings me to another significant trend. The use of on-set editing is becoming more and more prevalent.”
    He explains that Kahn had an editor on the shoot who had the pre-viz commercial set up on his box. Kahn shot a take that he liked, then the editor would bring in that take (from the video tap) and plug it right into the spot. “By the martini shot, we had a rough director’s cut ready to take to the telecine/edit session,” Rafferty says, adding that the Saab spot was his  most satisfying project this year.
    Despite changing trends and ongoing concerns, fellow VFX supervisors, editors and colorists are likewise turning out gratifying work. SHOOT surveyed these artisans to find out more about their most notable projects of 2007 as well as spots they are currently making their mark on. Here’s what they had to say:

Jordan Green, editor 
89 Editorial, bicoastal

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why? The most challenging and gratifying project I’ve worked on this year– Geico “The Real Scoop” campaign–is also the most recent project I’ve completed.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
The three spots (“Cabbage Patch,” “Jed Clampett” and “Flintstones”) are essentially spoofing tabloid TV, while paying a wink’y homage to what we love about them.  What made it challenging was creating a voyeuristic look into these “celebrities'” lives–without having the typical elements that are usually conjured in these types of shows- i.e. paparazzi photos, historical docs etc.  Working with the creatives (Bob Meagher and Pat Wittich at The Martin Agency, and director Martin Granger) to help create an investigative depiction of pretty innocent celebs like Fred Flintstone or a Cabbage Patch doll, was a ton of fun and really gratifying to be a part of. Stylizing the sound design and cutting for a more sensationalized feel was a departure from other spots I’ve worked on, and a really fun experience as well.  In the case of the Cabbage Patch doll–inventing his past and telling his life story, using many different formats of footage that Marty shot (Film, cell phone video, Hi-8/ VHS cam, Polaroids)–helped to create his life in a tabloidy fashion, and was a ball to cut together.

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Kevin Rafferty, VFX supervisor
The Orphanage, San Francisco

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?  Though the beginning of the year was a challenging one while completing Fantastic Four, I must say that the most gratifying project so far this year has been the Saab “Reborn” commercials. I was excited to return to commercials and work on a visually stunning piece with such a cutting edge director as Joseph Kahn. Our task was to find beauty within an act of evolutionary destruction. I’m ecstatic to have artistically achieved that goal.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
The above-mentioned Saab “Reborn” spot was my most recent project. We open in a hangar, with a 2007 Saab 9-3 poised on a platform behind a Saab Grippen jet. The jet engine ignites, burning, melting and sculpting the 2007 model into the 2008 model. The only thing filmed in the hangar was the 2008 model. The jet, the platform, the fire, sparks and smoke, as well as the 2007 model, were all computer generated.

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Andy Hall, VFX/3D supervisor
a52, Santa Monica

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?
 The most challenging project of the year so far is Lexus “Pop-Up,” because the spot evolved constantly throughout the post process at a52. Originally, it was conceived in far simpler form from a post perspective.  Ultimately, it had many elements reconstructed in Flame and significant CG work, in particular re-creating one section completely in CG. It’s bittersweet in that regard because the work is so successful you can’t tell in the end.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
The most recent project is a campaign for Honda Fit with RPA that I was fortunate enough to direct. Both :15 campaign spots were realized completely in CG, and followed the antics of the Fit as it is pursued around a sprawling city by over-eager eyeballs. It was a really enjoyable process working with the agency, as they afforded me a lot of freedom with the story and execution of both pieces.

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Gil Baron, VFX supervisor
Method Studios, Santa Monica

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why? Miller Light’s “Break from the Crowd” was my most gratifying project last year because it was the most technically challenging. We created a bridge between Maya and Massive that allowed the animators to animate, the lighters to light and used the dynamics engine in Massive in novel fashion all on a ridiculously short schedule.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
Sprint’s “Airplane” was my last spot to air. The challenge was to incorporate real time lapse elements into choreography where the actors pantomimed painting. Keep your eyes out for a rain of safety tags for Hyundai and a sports anthem spot for Gatorade as well as some cute fun Olay spots coming soon.

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Tiffany Burchard, editor
FilmCore Editorial, bicoastal

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?  My most gratifying project was a spot for Cingular and BBDO, New York. In the spot, a girl talks to her mom in “text” language. The spot became something of a cultural phenomenon. It’s gotten more than a million hits on You Tube and spawned at least 50 imitators. I even passed a kid on the street, who repeated the tagline: “IDK, my BFF Jill.” We knew it was a cute spot when we were working on it, but couldn’t have predicted how big it would become. Who knew?

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
I cut a spot for Panasonic called “Overscheduled” for Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners. It was directed by Alison Maclean and it’s about a family who can’t find time for one another because of their busy schedules, including the daughter who looks to be about six. I like editing comedy and dialogue; it’s always a challenge to work in the funniest bits. In editing comedy, it often comes down to knowing where to put in a pause to give it an added punch.

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Tim Davies, VFX supervisor
Asylum, Santa Monica

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why? HBO was an incredibly compelling project to be involved in. Not only was it a groundbreaking project for HBO, but it also proved to be an extremely complex one, as eight separate apartments needed to be seamlessly synced and composited to give the illusion of one clean take. In addition to working on The Wall with director Jake Scott, I also supervised HBO’s on-demand short film titled The Watcher, which Jake also directed. This film linked characters back to the main story. We were all given so much creative freedom, and being able to be involved with the shooting, the post and final projection in NYC of this unique content driven piece motivated us to create something we were excited and proud to be involved with.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
Levi’s, “Change.” In this campaign, we had to show a cold, lifeless world that was brought to life by the very act of our hero guy pulling up his jeans. The apartment was built as a set that was raised above the ground to allow room for elements such as the phone booth, parking meters, bollards and the taxi to burst through the floor from below. Green screen was positioned outside each window, allowing us to add the city skyline and animate the rising up of the buildings at the compositing stage, as well as tracking in skylines and adding reflections back into the windows of various scenes.

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Chris Bankoff, VFX/compositing supervisor
SWAY Studio, Culver City, Calif.

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?  I served as composting lead on a nearly 100 percent CG spot for Subaru.  The director envisioned a car coming to life out of a magazine spread on a coffee table.  The car drove around the table, splashing through water and jumping in and out of different magazine images.  The shots became an interesting play between 2D and 3D, and the spot touched on SWAY’s resources from our proprietary Drive-A-Tron™ simulator to recently implemented Scratch DI. 

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
I finished a :30 project for Nissan where the entire spot consisted of one continuous shot making its way throughout the vehicle revealing an ever-changing list of occupants. Due to the need to remove or replace sections of the physical car and actors, the camera move was broken into sections, challenging the compositing team to merge 18 overlapping passes, then with CG elements, re-skin the car’s exterior and ingrate it into a fully CG environment.

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David Henegar, partner/editor
Butcher, Santa Monica

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?  HBO’s “Voyeur” trailer . Although it appears simple, this trailer was rather challenging. I was given total creative freedom to concept and produce this piece. Instead of simply editing together footage from the films, I decided to design a custom piece focusing on the concept of voyeurism in general. Working with photographer Sasha Tsyrlin, we gathered numerous photos of buildings throughout New York. After weeks of retouching, animating and designing type, I am rather proud of the result.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.Lexus “Pop Up.” Working with [Team One] creatives Kevin Smith, Dave Horton and producer Jennifer Weinberg is such a great pleasure. The moment the boards arrived at Butcher, I knew we were looking at an award-winning concept. “Popup” was shot as a series of multiple plates, all fitting together like a giant puzzle. The success of this commercial is due in large part to collaboration between many people, the greatest of which goes to a52.

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Bob Festa, colorist
R!OT, Santa Monica

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?  Hollywood. Cinema. Action. Who would be crazy enough to film a helicopter chasing a new Alfa Romeo under the pedestrian overpasses of Los Angeles? Director Alexander Paul of Ping Pong Films, that’s who. The track is aggressive, the action is fast, the look is clearly cinematic. Late, low, gold light, combined with incredible exposures by DOP Michael Fitzmaurice set the stage for this years HPA Outstanding Commercial Color finalist. Alexander, Michael and I have all worked together before to develop the language for this introduction for Alfa Romeo.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
Honda’s “Environmentally Friendly.” Los Angeles is a car town. If your going to work in the L.A. color marketplace you better have a love for sheet metal. Director Jon Yarbrough, DP David Wagreich, art director Bill Halladay, editor Sally Banta and I have all worked together for more than 20 years. When you finish more than 60 individual spots a year for Honda, you learn to finish each other’s sentences between the laughs. Working with good friends on a weekly basis makes color even more enjoyable. It allows you to transcend the tools and improvise looks effortlessly.

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Chris Ryan, colorist/ partner
Nice Shoes, New York

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?  The most gratifying project I worked on this year was not a commercial. It was an incredibly moving short film by Martin Bell called Alexander. The film was about special needs children in Iceland, which was shot on mini DV.  The photography was beautiful (as is the case with all of Martin’s footage) but he wanted to create more of a film like look from the video source material.   I highly recommend it.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
I recently did an interesting Verizon Wireless spot called “Physical Graffiti.” The color needed to match the look of the Led Zeppelin album of the same name, which had a desaturated sepia quality to it.  The commercial has a guy walking the streets of the city listening to Zeppelin and ends with him in front of the buildings on the album cover, which then transitions to the actual album.

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Beau Leon, director of telecine
The Syndicate, Santa Monica

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?  My most challenging project was the music video for “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance. I worked with film negative, but treated it as a print in telecine, reversing the polarity for softened highlights and enhanced grain and texture. I love working with Sam Bayer and we really push each other creatively. We got exactly what we wanted: the rich, but muted feel of an old film print. (And an MVPA Award!)

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe. The Nissan Altima “Pride and Joy” campaign from TBWAChiatDay with director Jeffery Plansker. I transferred from a print made from film negative, so we got rich blacks and nice contrast without forcing highlights. Jeffery wanted to retain the look of the photography, knowing that it would enhance the car’s appearance, as well as the emotional feel of the campaign.

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Maury Loeb, editor
PS 260, New York

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?   Working on big VFX jobs like Levi’s “Change” is always such a curious process–you’re left scratching your head a bit during the offline, but then you’re totally fulfilled when you see the finished product. So much of the offline process is trying to create beats for moments that don’t exist yet and trying to tell a story with characters who have yet to be introduced.  As an editor you really have to pace out and construct your spots with a bit of a blindfold on–not unlike young Luke Skywalker training with Yoda to master the force.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
Currently, I’m just finishing some hilarious spots for Fathead out of Wieden + Kennedy New York, directed by Jun Diaz from Smuggler.  The spots illustrate the feeling one gets from seeing a life-size Fathead hanging on your wall. The spots have a fire-breathing bear, krumping Nascar pit crews and a room demolishing Winnebego.

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Dave Hussey, senior colorist
Company 3, bicoastal

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?  My most gratifying job this year was working on a spot directed by Jake Scott and shot by Ben Seresin.  It was entitled “Portfolio” [a public service TV spot for the Save Darfur Coalition].  It felt good to participate in a job that educated and that could make a difference.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.My most recent spot was for DirectTV featuring Beyonce.  It was directed by Melina.  Earlier in the year, Melina had directed four music videos for Beyonce–one of them for a song entitled Upgrade U. DirecTV wanted to incorporate the music video footage with new footage shot for the commercial that would match the music video. A lot of care was taken to match everything. The director and I had a feeling of deja vu looking at all of the old footage and color matching all the new footage to it.

Craig Leffel, colorist
Optimus, Chicago/Los Angeles

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?  I’ve had the good fortune of working with Ogilvy Chicago on a number of the “Real Women” campaigns for Dove. None were more rewarding for me personally than the “Beauty Theory / No Age Limit” spots. The spots featured women 60+ years in age in the nude and against a plain grey background. The images were composed using body positions reminiscent of Weston or Avedon photographs. While we all have a personal idea of beauty, the challenge here was to take what many might not find even attractive and uncover heroic beauty both in the film and on screen.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.
Coca-Cola’s “Sweat” for the Lapiz agency was particularly fun. It’s always great to get film in from around the world, and the story here is universal; life is hard, and we all need to remember what’s important. Watching the story play out in Argentina while trying to maintain both a sense of reality and yet a contemporary “look” was a delicate balance. When does it become too stylized or too real?  As a colorist, it’s my job to figure it out.

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Stewart Shevin, editor
Mad River Post, Detroit

What’s been your most challenging and/or gratifying project of the year and why?  A piece titled “Of Note” was a spot-length statement I directed and edited about young peoples’ subjection to the societal inundation of pop media. It was told through the metaphor of kids playing musical instruments. It was challenging in that it’s hard to use children as a communicative vehicle without being opportunistic. Ultimately though, it’s gratifying to learn vicariously through a nine-year-old’s experience and hopefully create a more inherent truth.

What is your most recent spot / project? Please Describe.“We Believe” for Chevrolet is my most recent project. It is an anthemic :60 that described Chevy’s current and planned solutions to gas-fueled vehicles. It aired on the Country Music Awards. We gathered material from a number of past Chevy projects to cull it down for this spot.

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