SHORT CUTS
Dallas-based Janimation completed work on the spot "Fish Tank," for 7-Eleven’s Slurpee drink via The Richards Group, Dallas. The ad, which is a :30 with a :15 lift, combines live-action footage with CG animation. "Fish Tank" shows a mischievous teen boy dipping his Slurpee into a fish tank, which freezes the contents into a solid block of ice. Janimation’s team included animation director Greg Punchatz; creative/design director Pete Herzog; visual effects supervisor Lyn Caudle; senior producer Steve Gerik; technical director Ludovick Michaud; character animator John McInnis; designers/compositors Jana Oleksinski, Alex Neuman and Jennifer Hudgens; and online editor Marc Klienmann. Director M.L. Nelson of Noonday Pictures, Dallas, handled the live action.
R!OT Santa Monica provided visual effects and postproduction services for Dave Navarro’s "Rexall" music video, directed by Honey via Squeak Pictures, Los Angeles. A team of R!OT artists, headed by visual effects supervisor Deak Ferrand, created a variety of visuals for the video, including a 180-degree digital matte painting of a crumbling, fire-engulfed city. The video takes a surreal trip through an apocalyptic future, as a group of girls and young women, dressed like Greek nymphs, make a pilgrimage to a dying metropolis. Navarro appears in a stark white luxury hotel suite overlooking the flaming city, and later performs in the midst of the inferno near collapsing buildings. In the final scene, the women, caught up in celebrating the world’s end, look on in awe as the Northern Lights spread across the sky. Telecine artist Clark Muller transferred the film elements to tape and color corrected the video, helping to give the piece a distinctive look. R!OT artists Verdi Sevenhuysen and Stefano Trivelli performed the compositing and 2-D visual effects work, which included flames and smoke that bathe the city scenes, as well as the interactive lighting, falling debris and other animated details. Artist Kiki Chansamone designed the Northern Lights effect, simulating the ephemeral rainbow-colored light of the natural phenomena and applying it to the matte painting of the city.
Digital FX, a Baton Rouge, La.-based film and video production company was chosen by National Geographic Television, to design graphics and animation for an upcoming television program titled BioBlitz 2001. The program will air this coming October on the nationally syndicated program National Geographic Explorer.
MUSIC NOTES
Pomann Sound, New York, has moved onto its second season of mixing and sound design for Nick Jr.’s animated series Little Bill. The program is broadcast daily on Nickelodeon and Saturday mornings on CBS.
Atlanta-headquartered Oasis Recording has completed the final surround sound mix for The Journey, an autobiographical documentary based on the real-life adventures of filmmaker Eric Saperston and his friends. The 90-minute film traces the life of Saperston, who bought a VW bus and set out with his golden retriever, Jack, to follow the Grateful Dead and work a ski season in Aspen, Colo. While on the road, Saperston met up with people who quit their jobs to join him on his quest. The documentary was shot entirely with a Panasonic EZ-1 mini DV Cam, and was edited down from 500 hours of original footage. The initial editing and mixing occurred in Los Angeles, with the film eventually winding up in Atlanta for final posting. The film recently won the Audience Award at the 2001 Atlanta Film Festival, and has been picked up for national distribution by Seventh Art Releasing, Los Angeles.
