PUTTING A HUMAN FACE ON STOP MOTION In order to show a female puppet transform from wholesome to sexy upon her washing in the wilderness with a black bar of Lux soap, Portland, Ore.-based animation studio Bent Image Lab brought a live-action dimension to its established stop motion fare. Bent Director Chel White meshed a digitally manipulated live-action face with a stop motion puppet hair and body. “It was a great chance to try something completely new, and it has lots of potential for future projects,” said White, who credits Bent Executive Producer/Co-director Ray Di Carlo with dreaming up the technique that humanizes animated characters. Titled “Provocateur,” the spot from agency Santo Argentina starts out like an innocent fable but takes a darkly seductive detour as a charming Swiss village turns into a seedier town. The DP was Mark Eifert; stop motion animators were Jeff Riley and Jerold Howard.
LIVING IT UP The LvngRm (the living room) is a new editorial/design/finishing shop now operating in Atlanta. Its founding partners are managing director Dave Warner, VP of Accounts Melissa Donovan, VP/Executive Producer Nat Zimmerman and Lead Motion Designer and Animator Jim Bowhall. The company opens with Commercial Editors Shannon O’Brien and Lisa Olshanski. O’Brien comes to the studio having worked most recently at New York-based Berwyn Editorial where spot work included Volvo, Coppertone and Subway. Olshanski was previously one of Mad River’s editors, having worked with clients such as Garnier, HBO and T.J. Maxx…..
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS Post house Optimus, with bases of operation in Chicago and Los Angeles, has brought Editor Shira Ankori on board. Ankori, who was previously at Red Car, Santa Monica, will be based in Optimus’ Southern California shop but also available out of the Chicago facility. Her clientele at Red Car included Sony, Toyota, Wal-Mart and The Los Angeles Times. Ankori’s 10-year editing career began at Pi Edit Company, New York, followed by eight years at Red Car, the first four working out of that company’s New York house. A New York City native, Ankori is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communications where she majored in film. In addition to her career as an editor, Ankori works as a voiceover actor. She also has an extensive background in dance, having studied at the world-renowned School of American Ballet and famed High School of Performing Arts in New York City. She now joins an Optimus roster of editors that includes Justin Amore, Grant MacDowell and Jim Staskauskas in Los Angeles, and Tim Kloehn, Craig Lewandowski, Steve Mach, Jan Maitland, Randy Palmer, Katherine Pryor, Deb Schimmel, Glorily Velez and Kate Wrobel in Chicago…..Burlington, Mass.-based data management company Signiant announced that Thomas A. Ohanian has joined its executive management team as vice president of product management. Ohanian is perhaps best known as one of Avid Technology’s earliest employees and a developer of the Avid Media Composer nonlinear editing system. He is an Academy Award and a two-time Emmy recipient for technical innovation….Stockholm-headquartered Digital Vision appointed Simon Cuff to the position of president/COO. Cuff, who joined Digital Vision upon the company’s acquisition of Nucoda in early 2005, replaces outgoing president/COO Robert Ekström. Cuff will manage Digital Vision’s worldwide team from the company’s London office.
