SHORT CUTS
Rhinoceros Visual Effects and Design (RVED), New York, worked on the newest Savin ad, "Shuttle," via Greenwich, Conn. agency Genova & Partners. The :15 focuses on the quality of color presentations achieved by using Savin copiers, which "make everyday presentations take off." Rhinoceros creative director/director Harry Dorrington worked on the spot which features a visual "take off" showing a Savin carton that turns into a space shuttle blasting off, leaving a colorful trail as it flies into space. On return, the shuttle changes back into a box that opens to reveal the Savin copier. The copier does a little "lift off" as a reprise. Additional RVED credits include executive producers/partners Michael Miller and Rick Wagonheim; senior producer Bennett Lieber; digital artists/CG directors David Barosin and Natalia Saenko; digital artists Patrick Porter, Ji-Hyun Yoon, Jeff Guerrero and Haji Uesato; Inferno artist Mark French; and production coordinator Linda Gallagher.
Santa Monica-based Blur Studio created a computer animated end tag for a new ad campaign introducing Power Rangers Wild Force action figures from Bandai America. The :05 tag features an enormous black panther that leaps out of a jungle environment. When the cat’s face reaches the screen, it transforms into the "Wild Force" logo, a stylized rendering of a saber tooth cat face. Blur’s CG supervisor David Stinnett worked on the ad, along with creative director Tim Miller, producer Al Shier, animators Neil Blevins and Marlon Nowe, and concept artist Chuck Wojtkiewicz.
VT/TV Graphics & Post, Houston, created an animated logo for Zomba Films, a division of Zomba Recording Corporation, an independent music company which encompasses several record labels, including Jive Records, which represents the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC and Britney Spears. The logo was created initially for the recent Britney Spears film Crossroads. The :13, 3-D animated logo was based on three animated speakers that danced around to music inspired by the music of Jive. VT/TV Sound Designs helped bring the animation to life, with sound designer Brad Summerfield adding numerous sound elements and mixing them according to Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound specifications. The computer-generated animation was rendered at film resolution and printed to film for theatrical release. A shortened version was also created for use in various movie trailers for the movie. Other VT/TV credits include executive producer Randy Miller, producer Meredyth Badreau, and creative director/art director/colorist/visual effects artist Ken Koster. Summerfield also served as mixer/engineer for the audio post work on the logo.
MUSIC NOTES
HUM Music + Sound Design, Santa Monica, completed music and sound design for Microsoft and agency McCann-Erickson, San Francisco. "Vintage," "Red," "Long Ago" and "Boiler Room" showcase Microsoft’s .NET technology by using a split-screen approach to tell two stories simultaneously. The :30s were directed Mehdi Norowzian of bicoastal Chelsea Pictures. For HUM, Jeff Koz was creative director/composer, composers Jason Steele and Billy Baker, sound designer Marc Levisohn, executive producer Debbi Landon, producer Chanel Scott, and engineer Frank Nadasdy.
Johannes Hammers of Chris Bell & Company, West Los Angeles, worked on three :30s for Uncle Ben’s and D’Arcy, St. Louis, which has since closed. The Rob Pritts-directed soap opera-style ads feature vixens and hunks overacting, dramatic musical cues, and Uncle Ben’s Breakfast Bowls. The audio post was mixed by Bruce Bueckert of Mike Recording Services, West Los Angeles, a division of Chris Bell & Company. Assistant mixer was Brian Aitken. Pritts directs via Backyard Productions, Venice, Calif.
Jonathan Helfand and Rich Mangano executed comprehensive sound work for the short film The Snowman, written and directed by Evan Petty. Helfand and Mangano’s work on the film included scoring, recording, dialogue editing, sound effects editing and mixing. Helfand and Mangano are president/composer/sound designer, and chief engineer, respectively, at Jonathan Helfand Music & Post, New York.
