SHORT CUTS
New York-based Spontaneous Combustion (SC) created visual effects and CG for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) "Verb: It’s What You Do" campaign. "Discover" integrates computer animation with live-action sequences, which were directed by Danny Duchovny of Cucoloris Films, Venice, Calif. Created by Saatchi & Saatchi New York, "Discover" continues the campaign where computer generated "verb characters"–who are made entirely of action words–are shown performing physical activities. They later morph into live action people. The SC team created an animated model that matched the action of the real kids in the commercial to create the morphing of digital and human characters. Animators modeled the "actors" in 3-D, and designers typeset all the words based on a completed frame of the character. The team strategically chose words that would read easily and tailored them to varying sizes based on their placement on the character. Credits for SC included senior visual effects artist Tony Robins (who’s since exited the company), design director Oliver Wicki, designer Haejin Cho, director of animation Lawrence Nimrichter, managing director Sally Kapsalis, producer Zu Al-Kadiri, and assistant producer Lydia Holness.
Greg Letson of Red Car, New York, edited Pringles’ "Groovin," a :30 created by Grey Worldwide, New York. In the ad, two girls and a guy have fun on a raft in the middle of a lake, while enjoying Pringles. The can of the chips shimmies from one end of the boat to the other when someone tips the raft in their direction. When the Pringles can is in danger of falling off the raft, the three people jump to one side of the raft, saving the can from a watery end. "Groovin" was directed by Max & Dania of Highway 61, New York. For Red Car, Michael Equi was assistant editor, with Rash Clark producing.
Santa Monica-headquartered Realm Productions provided computer animation, visual effects and other creative services for "Work It," the debut music video from Missy Elliott’s new Elektra release, "Under Construction." The video features a series of surreal scenes which take place in a ruined playground dotted with gnarled trees, a beauty parlor, an underground parking garage and a subway. Realm contributed over 110 shots to the video, including images of Elliott rapping as bees crawl over her face, swallowing a model Lamborghini in a quick gulp, and a girl with Elliott’s face wearing a dunce cap. For the trick with the Lamborghini, Realm produced the car as a CG element and used Digital Fusion’s warp tools to manipulate the singer’s facial features and create the swallow. For the schoolroom scene, Realm tracked in a clean plate to erase the girl’s head and applied Elliott’s in its place. Additionally, the artists tracked the movement of the girl’s head and applied that data to Elliott to match the movements. To finish and conform the video, Realm used Leitch Technology Corporation’s dpsVelocityQ realtime nonlinear editing system, which allowed Realm to complete all its final post work in-house in a short period of time. Rony Soussan was visual effects producer/online artist/compositor, Jesse Jacobs was visual effects designer, D.J. Fitzsimmons completed rig removal, Chad Roen was the online assistant/3-D artist, and Brad Herman was 3-D artist. "Work It" was directed by Dave Meyers, who directs clips via F.M. Rocks, Santa Monica. He’s repped for commercials by bicoastal/international @radical.media.
MUSIC NOTES
Clatter & Din, Seattle, and Dan Dean Productions, Mercer Isalnd, Wash., completed the sound design and music, respectively, for Haggar Comfort Fit Pants’ "Contortionist," directed by Peter Nydrle of Nydrle, West Hollywood. The :30 features a young executive who bends his body into a variety of strange ways to highlight the pant’s versatility. For Clatter & Din, Vince Werner was sound designer, with Kris Dangla producing. Dan Dean composed the track.
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, star of director Brian De Palma’s Femme Fatale, worked with HSR Studios mixer Bill Higley who contributed automatic dialogue replacement (ADR) for the Quinta Communications production which opened in theatres nationwide on Nov. 6. Higley, assisted by recordist Jessica Mossa, completed the assignment on Digidesign Pro Tools referenced to PAL video.
