It’s rare when a job starts off on such a right foot, and I think the effects of that are noticeable throughout.nnYou see, Anna Sui and the folks at Procter & Gamble saw our music video for Kerli’s “Walking on Air,” and got so excited they gave us the rare opportunity not only to create this spot for Anna Sui Makeup Foundation, but to develop the concept for it from the ground up. This was refreshing and fun. With the only direction being “magical botanical ingredients,” we came up with four different ideas, taking two of the concepts through to the storyboard stage, finally settling on the story of the plastic compact organically growing in Anna Sui‘s garden.nnWe really wanted to make the atmosphere magical, while keeping the ingredients organic and luscious. To achieve this, we decided that a combination of live action and CG was the way to go. Being in control of the entire process, production and post, this was a breeze for us: in two days of shooting and armed with a Canon 5D Mark II, we went on-location at Ringwood Manor, NJ for background plates, including the opening gate shot, and then went into the studio, shooting talent, and macro elements such as rose bushes, raspberry branches, leaves and so on. Even though the back plates are heavily colored and out of focus, you can still feel the wind and the leaves of the surrounding trees.nnFor the next four weeks we were getting down and dirty with 3d Studio Max 2010 for creating realistic fruit and the vine animation, RealFlow 5 for all droplets and splashes, and After Effects CS4 for final composites. Normally used to much tighter music video deadlines, it was a blast to have the time to finesse each individual frame until it couldn’t get any “tastier.” To make sure our fruit ingredients are spot-on, we shot tons of high-res textures and references, going to a nearby raspberry farm, and filling our studio with fresh apricots and berries (which we then ate).nn
Anna Sui from www.whatisaggressive.com.“>Aggressive on Vimeo.
nIt’s projects like this, where you’re genuinely excited about the work you do, that make it all worthwhile. We like our job.nnCreditsnnProject Name: Anna Sui “Rose“ nTo view: http://whatisaggressive.com/621695/Anna-SuinnClient: Anna Sui/P&GnnProduction Company: Antenna Media / www.whatisaggressive.com.“>AggressivenDirector: www.whatisaggressive.com.“>Aggressive (Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro)nDP: Damian AcevedonExec. Producer: Jordon WinternLine Producer: Arthur Micah Ross IInnVFX: www.whatisaggressive.com.“>AggressivenLead VFX, Compositing: Alex Topaller, Daniel ShapironTechnical Director of 3D: Jesse HolmesnArt Direction and Styleframes: Jungeun Kim, Lilian DarmononFluids: Attila ZalanyinnModelling: Evermotion, Jesse Holmes, Caius WongnnRotoscope: Rooster CreativennMusical Score: Justin Stanley nnAbout www.whatisaggressive.com.“>Aggressivenwww.whatisaggressive.com.“>Aggressive is a visual effects and storytelling studio headed by the Grammy Award-Winning directors Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro. To date, www.whatisaggressive.com.“>Aggressive has directed music videos for some of the world’s biggest artists (Stone Temple Pilots, Juanes, Megadeth, Bloc Party, etc.), as well as a number of broadcast and online spots for clients such as Ralph Lauren, Anna Sui, Marc Ecko, MTV, Subway, AT&T and more. View more of their work at www.whatisaggressive.com.nn
Kerli “Walking on Air“ from www.whatisaggressive.com.“>Aggressive on Vimeo.
