PORTLAND, Ore.—Directors David Daniels and Chel White have teamed with partner/executive producer Ray Di Carlo to launch Bent Image Lab, a hybrid animation laboratory/live-action production house headquartered in Portland.
The company name, explained Daniels—who’s best known for his tenure at Vinton Studios, Portland—sprang out of the founders’ desire to make the venture "a place where you can bend the rules, bend light and bend the imagination."
Daniels is known for his mixed-media prowess, with animation ranging from CGI to clay. He has helmed spots for such clients as Levi’s, M&M’s, FOX Sports, Pepsi, Nabisco and Fanta. Daniels animated all three seasons of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, and served as sequence director on Peter Gabriel’s "Big Time" music video. Daniels’ work has garnered honors at assorted competitions, including the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show, the Clios, the Daytime Emmy Awards and the Tellys.
While most of his commercialmaking endeavors have been through Vinton, Daniels was also briefly repped by Skyler Animation, Portland (SHOOT, 2/15/02, p. 7). While there, his work included serving as creative director on a Roundup weed killer spot for the Wolf Group, New York.
White’s former U.S. spot roost was New York-headquartered Curious Pictures. Among his credits are commercials for Reebok, Fila, adidas, Lugz, Coors, Honda and Coca-Cola. His TV program endeavors include an episode of the stop motion animation series The PJs, and a parody for Saturday Night Live that recreates the clay animation techniques used in the Christmas TV classic, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. White’s work has gained recognition at the AICP Show, the Clios and the British Design & Art Direction competition.
Di Carlo got his start serving on the crew of director James Cameron’s The Abyss, and went on to contribute effects on a number of other features. Di Carlo has produced spots for Nintendo, Reebok, Chase Manhattan, Cellular One and Raid, as well as a short for Saturday Night Live.
The Bent roster also includes several up-and-coming artisans, including live-action director Kazuo Ohno, CG art director Adrian Grey, designer/modeler Jake Burgard and animator/ graphic designer/Flash artist Pascal Campion.