SHORT CUTS
London-headquartered Framestore CFC helped three lovely ladies sing the praises of Tropicana juice in a :40 via DDB London. Rosita, Marguerita and Dolores introduce themselves to U.K. viewers with a catchy little musical number. The twist is that they are birds, and these little Carmen Mirandas were choreographed by the digital wizards at Framestore CFC. Tropicana’s "Parrot Dance" was created by DDB London’s creative director John Webster, and was directed by Mick Rudman for Park Village, London. It is the first in a series of four commercials featuring the trio planned for this year. Rudman initially brought the project to Framestore CFC in August 2003. Framestore CFC visual effects supervisor/Henry artist on the project, Tim Osborne, came up with a method of achieving the desired look and feel, given that Webster wanted to use real birds as much as possible. Leg animation was added to the 3-D list, as Webster wanted to incorporate some elaborate dance moves to the birds’ repertoire. The raw material for all four spots was shot over eight days at Black Island Studios, West London. Nine parrots were on hand for the shoot, a necessary precaution in case any of the starlets proved temperamental on the day. The extra birds also reduced the need for retakes due to unsynchronized moves. The birds had been trained at Birds & Animals UK, Leavesden, England, the company responsible for Harry Potter‘s owls. After some debate over whether to use blue or green screen backgrounds—as the birds sported plumage in both colors—they wound up being shot against green screen. Osborne was on set throughout, working with Rudman to ensure that the Framestore CFC team got all the material they’d need for postproduction. To speed up the pipeline, footage for each shot was sent immediately to Kate Owen at Marshall Street Editors, London. Using Osborne’s notes and Rudman’s direction, she performed rough comps in the Avid, cut and returned the material to the studio, giving almost instant feedback on the work in progress. The schedule was extremely tight, in part because of the huge amount of tracking and CG work involved. While the shoot was proceeding, the animators at Framestore CFC were starting work on the lip sync—actually beak sync—using a recording of the song. After testing a bird with an opening top beak, they decided to go with a locked top beak, like a real parrot. Osborne then began building the jungle, which contained a large volume of compositing. Each shot consisted of about six layers, which included a stock shot in the background, a plate of foliage, three separate parrots, and finally more foliage in the foreground. The final stages of the ad included the painstaking tasks of removing the real beaks from the birds, as well as texturing the CG material. Telecine for the spot was handled by colorist Steffan Perry, who ensured that all the elements for Osborne’s final comp were matched. Additional Framestore CFC credits go to visual effects supervisor/animator Dave Hulin; Henry artist Alix Smith; animators Howard Sly, Chris Syborn, Gwilym Morris, Don Mahmood, Kate Hood, Simon Stoney, Alex Doyle and Laura Dias; trackers Dean Robinson, Giles Bartlett, Benjamin Loch and Joe Leveson; 2-D artists Travis Porter and Terance Alvaras; and post producers Jason Bartholomew and Rebecca Barbour.
Bicoastal Imaginary Forces (IF) created the main title sequence for Hellboy, the recently released feature directed by Guillermo del Toro. The titles unveil the story of Hellboy through a series of tabloid headlines and mysterious photos. Like Bigfoot, the comic book character is documented through sightings, blurry photos, and questionable news reportage. IF created the title sequence to establish Hellboy’s history as an urban myth. Beginning with a photo taken from the scene of a World War II battle, the camera travels through a gothic "time tunnel." Tabloids and other media fly through the maze-like space, each becoming more modern as it gives another angle on Hellboy’s existence. The media stream is also intended to plant the question of Hellboy’s rumored relationship with the FBI—one of the plot points that del Toro wanted to get across in the title sequence. This is IF’s third collaboration with del Toro. The company had previously created the titles for Blade 2 and Mimic.
Vinton Studios, Portland, Ore., produced four promos for NBC featuring M&M’s characters who attempt to get their color back. Created by BBDO New York, the tags showed the M&M’s introducing NBC’s "Must See TV" shows, Friends, Will & Grace and The Apprentice. The :10 "NBC Friends" features Red and Yellow who believe that if they introduce Friends, the NBC peacock will give them their color back. Instead, the peacock pecks away at Red’s shell causing him to scream in fear. Yellow gets his color back in "NBC Will & Grace" (:10) when he downs a drink recommended to him by the show’s character, Karen. He doesn’t share the beverage with Red, who remains gray and frustrated. In "NBC Apprentice" (:10), Yellow discusses impressing Donald Trump with his business acumen by charging five cents to view a gray M&M. Red becomes outraged that he is on display and in his fury, he winds up getting his color back. And in the :15 "NBC Post Apprentice," Yellow points out that "we really do look better in color," and he and Red sit on a couch and talk about what Trump would have said to them, had they not gotten their color back. Vinton credits go to director Kirk Kelley; executive producer Paul Golden; producer Shawn Wright; technical director/texture artist Rob Ducey; technical director/character set-up artist Roland Gauthier; modeler Brian Deans-Rowe; lighting artist Clay Connally; animator Chris Ohlgren ("NBC Friends"); animator Travis Knight ("NBC Will & Grace"); animators Jeff Mulcaster, Alex Inman, Brian Ormiston and Patrick Van Pelt ("NBC Apprentice"); animators Gesine Kratzner and Van Pelt ("NBC Post Apprentice"); director of digital production, commercial division Al Cubillas; Flame artist Rex Carter; and tape operator Trevor Cable.
MUSIC NOTES
David Horowitz Music Associates (DHMA), New York, arranged the track for Sierra Mist’s "Bagpipes," an ad that premiered during the Super Bowl. Directed by Kinka Usher of House Of Usher Films, Santa Monica, the :30 features a bagpiper who cools down during a parade ? la Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. David Horowitz and Jonathan Fields arranged the music, with Jan Horowitz producing for DHMA.
STOCK SHOTS
Artbeats, a royalty-free stock footage house based in Myrtle Creek, Ore., announced a partnership with Silver Spring, Md.-based Discovery FootageSource, a division of Discovery Communications Inc. (DCI), to offer footage from DCI’s extensive film library. This footage includes four new medical procedures collections, "Medical-Graphic Surgeries," "Medical-Laboratory," "Medical-Montage" and "Medical-Surgeries." Additional Artbeats collections from Discovery FootageSource include "American West," "Science & Robotics," "Wild Cats," "Human Body," "Nature’s Fury," "Ancient Egypt" and "Military Machines."
