The fusion of an exploding disco ball with the image of Justin Timberlake is the climax of “Screams,” an HBO video ad being used to promote a concert that will air on the network September 3. The ad is playing at sites including YouTube, pcplanets.com, musicstarx.net, Justin Timberlake’s MySpace page and first played on air June 10th during the Sopranos finale.
Shilo/New York, the production company, and Smoke & Mirrors/New York, the post/effects company worked with HBO’s in-house agency on the job.
“We designed the look of the spot and did all the editorial and pre-viz and sent it to Smoke to do the photo real finishing of the glass breaking,” said Tracy Chandler, Shilo’s executive producer.
The shards of glass float timelessly in space as they slowly get sucked back together to form a disco ball with Timberlake’s image. The ball then explodes to the words “Only on HBO” and the date of the concert.
“Not only did the look and edit need to be compelling, the texture and lighting had to look correct. We wanted to design a look that encompassed the icon of the shiny disco ball,” Chandler said. “CG allowed us to have total control over the timing and action of the glass, something we never could have controlled in a practical shoot environment.”
To create the exploding ball, “the dust and ambiance were created in Flame, utilizing speed six and sapphire sparks to finish the look,” said Nick Tanner, Smoke’s senior Flame artist. “The multitude of tiny ambient particles were generated in Flame on a shot-by-shot basis with specific reflections and animations.”
The images of Timberlake came from music videos and HBO footage. “We had to twist the colors to fit it into the color scheme, which adds mood to the piece,” Tanner said.
Even the type received special treatment. “The type was supplied by Shilo and we applied a slight glow, to make it look like it comes from the reflections in the glass,” he said.
The spot lasts only 25 seconds but the spacy images, the exploding ball and the appearance of Timberlake make it intriguing. “You don’t have time to absorb everything and on additional views you see new things happening within the frame,” Tanner said.
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More