SHORT CUTS
Wild Brain, San Francisco, completed the animated open, close and lifts for Cartoon Network’s The Chuck Jones Show, which premiered on April 8th. Directed by George Evelyn, the show highlights Jones’ best cartoons and his creations-Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, and Marvin the Martian, to name a few. In the:30 open, Wile E. zooms around on an Acme rocket, as he interacts with various Looney Tunes characters. Finally all the players fall onto a stage and surround an animated framed picture of Chuck Jones. Wile E. zooms by and the camera follows him off a cliff right before he plummets down. He holds a Jones show sign, which the animated Jones takes from him. Wild Brain credits also include executive producer Jeff Fino; executive producer/commercials Paul Golden; producer Leslie Arvio; art production supervisor Gisela Hermeling; technical director Eric Schweickert; animators Brad Rau, Aaron Sorenson, Alan Sperling, Ralph Fernan and Aichu So; assistant animators Cindy Ng, Billy Burger, Chris Carter, Granger Davis, Heiko Drengenberg, Emile Duronslet, Sam Hood, Christine Lacore, James Munro, Ivan Spiridonov, Amanda Tsoukanelis, Lyla Warren, Celeste Moreno and Vaughn Ross; background artist Tod Polson; digital ink and painters Danya O’Brien, Isaac Payne, Carter Tomassi, Kenrick Walz and Bryan Dawson; and editors Alex Hauser and Ellen Schade.
Alex Weil of Charlex, New York, directed Avis’ "Bull & Bear" for McCann-Erickson, New York. The :30 features a bull and a bear alternately against a red background, as the voiceover repeats "buy" and "sell." Finally the narrator stops and says, "Aw heck, just rent." Graphics and a spinning image of a car lead to the voiceover, which states, "In an economy that’s not trying very hard, we try harder." In addition to Weil, other Charlex credits include editor Chris Byrnes, Flame artist Greg Oyen, designer Tracy Savage, producer Chris Scallon, senior producer Steve Chiarello, and executive producer Amy Kindred.
Red Car Los Angeles, Santa Monica, cut a sitcom-style :15 for Nescafe Frothe and McCann-Erickson, Los Angeles. "Irish/Blarney" was directed by Michael Lembeck of The Directors Chair, New York, who has directed several episodes of Friends. For Red Car, Chris Gipson was editor, Scott So was assistant editor, and Chris Homel was Flame artist/online editor.
MUSIC NOTES
SPANK! Music and Sound Design, Chicago, has been busy with projects for the Chicago Tribune and Gatorade. SPANK’s Sofia Morizet sound designed the Tribune‘s "Protest," for MARC Advertising, Chicago, and Greg Allan composed the track for Gatorade’s "It’s Not," via FCB Chicago. "Protest" was directed by Michael Geoghan of Pink Films, London, and "It’s Not" was helmed by Zack Snyder of bicoastal HSI Productions.
tomandandy, New York, worked on a pair of :30s for Corning via agency Doremus, New York. "Future" and "Launch" feature graphics and typography by Adam Bluming of Los Angeles-based Imaginary Forces. Aaron Jaffe was composer/sound designer for "Launch," with Jeremy Adelson composing and sound designing "Future." Creative director was Andy Milburn and executive producer was Scott Brittingham.
Venice, Calif.-based Machine Head completed music and sound design for Kool Aid Magic Twists’ "House," for Ogilvy & Mather, New York. Machine Head’s Chris Neilman was composer, Stephen Dewey was creative director/sound designer, and Shari Christensen was producer. Clay Staub of now defunct The End directed the :30.
