Buster, a conceptual design studio that specializes in motion graphics for the advertising and broadcasting industries, has just completed three major new TV projects for the Fall 2008 season. Buster is a division of Stun Creative; Stun Creative co-presidents Mark Feldstein and Brad Roth made the announcement.
Buster’s latest projects were the show opens for MTV and HP’s “Engine Room”, “Locator” for WE TV, and “Easy Money” for The CW. To view these projects, please see: http://www.busterdesign.tv.client/post/falllaunches.html
ABOUT THE “ENGINE ROOM” PROJECT:
Buster recently completed all of the stylistically-linked promos, and show open graphics for a new reality TV series from MTV, mtvU and HP, entitled “Engine Room.” An original, short-form series, “Engine Room” follows 16 of the world’s most creative young minds as they unleash their artistic talents against seemingly impossible challenges while using stage-of-the-art HP personal computers, printers, workstations and communication tools to compete in complex, creative digital art challenges.
Buster’s Executive Creative Director Jonas Morganstein describes the project as an ideal example of sponsored programming, in which the HP product is integral to the show. “Our design approach needed to be the perfect marriage of the HP brand and the MTVU sensibility.” Buster Creative Director Kurt Spenser adds, “Set against a dynamic music track from the band ‘Rush,’ we produced a fast-paced, frenetic show open for ‘Engine Room’ combining live action, still photos and unique animation. The live action and stills were shot in and around LA, and were designed to convey an internationally flavored ‘graphic world’ in which the HP, MTV and ‘Engine Room’ brands could all co-exist. Our premise was to create a visual environment against which the top digital artists from around the world get a call to action from HP and MTV to come to New York City and compete in an extraordinary contest opportunity.”
Ross Martin, Senior VP, Programming, mtvU, said, “We are very proud of the work Buster has done with us on ‘Engine Room.'” Brian DeCubellis, Director and Executive Producer of mtvU, added, “Buster immediately understood our creative direction and what we were looking to accomplish with ‘Engine Room.’ Their inventive work and dedication to the project helped us raise the level of the whole idea.”
Add Buster/Stun’s Co-Presidents Feldstein and Roth, “Because mtvU’s ‘Engine Room’ deals with creativity, we knew we had to deliver a show open that lived up to the promise of the series itself.”
“The latest promo I worked on with Buster came out fantastic, and was in tune with mtvU’s media smart college crowd,” said Dax Martinez-Vargas, mtvU Associate Producer. “It was a great addition to the channel, and conveyed ‘Engine Room’s’ vibe and aesthetic very well.”
“Engine Room” was filmed in a loft in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood, in a kinetic workspace designed for the cutting-edge digital artists competing for global bragging rights. The team that demonstrates the most creative digital skills will win $400K (USD), programming control of MTV’s HD screen in Times Square for the night, and additional technology prizing. The series – which is appearing in the United States on MTV’s college network mtvU; globally on MTV channels around the world; and online in nine languages at http://www.mtvengineroom.com – chronicles four teams of contestants as they pursue their passion for digital art and showcase their incredible talent on a worldwide stage. Episodes of “Engine Room” run from five to seven minutes each, and the series is scheduled to last seven weeks.
Buster Credits for “Engine Room”:
Jonas Morganstein, Executive Creative Director & Executive Producer
Kurt Spenser, Creative Director & Head of Production
Brandon Pleus, Line Producer
Mickey Briggs, Line Producer
Barry McWilliams, Art Director
Kurt Spenser and Nate Howe, Directors
ABOUT THE “LOCATOR” PROJECT:
For client WE Network, Buster wrote and produced an animated show open for the new TV series “Locator.” The show’s premiere, which took place on Saturday, September 6, broke all tune-in ratings records in the history of the WE Network, attracting 1.2 million viewers.
Jonas Morganstein, Buster’s Executive Creative Director, said “When the Buster gang watched the ‘Locator’ pilot, that there was not a dry eye in the house. The show does an amazing job pulling at the heartstrings of the viewer, so we crafted a show open that evokes that level of emotional truth.” Adds Buster producer Mickey Briggs, “We incorporated visual imagery that would convey the idea of memories—how time naturally takes people apart, while the ‘Locator’ brings them back together. To depict this visually, we utilized images of wind, book pages turning, leaves blowing away, all showing the natural forces behind the passing of time.”
Adds Kelly Hefner, Executive Producer, WeTV, “We wanted to accomplish a lot with this open – to introduce viewers to Troy Dunn, share his personal story, and most importantly, set the stage for these very emotional stories of people seeking peace in finding and connecting pieces of their past. Buster achieved all of these goals, in a style that was both fresh and nostalgic. WE TV was very pleased with the result.”
Said Ted Haimes, Executive Producer of “Locator,” from Asylum Entertainment, “The challenge for Buster was to craft a title sequence that feels like the opening line of a classic short story, to invite the viewer into our emotional world. And to do this it in a way that’s distinctive, innovative and beautiful. That’s exactly what Buster delivered.”
Starring host Troy Dunn, “Locator” connects people with their lost loved ones, helping to reunite them. Over the last two decades Troy Dunn, has found over 20,000 “unfind-able” men, women and children – be it an adoptee seeking their biological parents, someone looking for a lost sibling, or anyone with a heartfelt need to reunite for a personal and compelling reason.
Buster Credits For “Locator”:
Jonas Morganstein, Executive Creative Director & Executive Producer
Kurt Spenser, Creative Director & Head of Production
Mickey Briggs, Line Producer
ABOUT THE “EASY MONEY” PROJECT:
For the new CW TV series “Easy Money,” Buster created the main title sequence on behalf of the production company/client MRC (Media Rights Capital.)
Says Kurt Spenser, “Getting the tone right for this show open was very important to its creators. Our challenge was to visually introduce a world about the outcasts of society set against the backdrop of a family owned loan-sharking business set within a tacky strip mall. Working against a great music track, we created a quirky, yet highly-nuanced, animated show open that was both dark and sophisticated.”
Add Buster/Stun Co-Presidents Roth and Feldstein, “An invaluable part of the creative process was having the benefit of just completing the TV and print launch campaigns for this series. Working very closely with the show creators, we had an intimate knowledge of what they wanted to achieve.”
Created by Emmy Award winning supervising producers of “The Sopranos” Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, who serve as executive producers, the new hour-long dark comedy/drama “Easy Money,” stars Laurie Metcalf (“Desperate Housewives,” “Roseanne”) as Bobette, the mother of Jeff Hephner’s character “Morgan.” “Easy Money” is the story of an eccentric family’s extremely successful short-term loan business, “Prestige Payday Loans.” While Bobette is the brains behind the business, Morgan feels that he’s never quite fit in with the family, and has second thoughts about being the “heavy” for Prestige.
Andrew Schneider and Diane Frolov, Executive Producers of “Easy Money,” said, “Buster was smart, fast, clever and funny – they made us a great main title.”
Buster Credits for “Easy Money”:
Jonas Morganstein, Executive Creative Director & Executive Producer
Kurt Spenser, Creative Director & Head of Production
Chad Itskowitz, Line Producer
Brandon Pleus, Line Producer
ABOUT BUSTER:
Launched in 2004 by co-presidents Brad Roth and Mark Feldstein as a division of their noted advertising agency Stun Creative, Buster is a conceptual design studio specializing in original animated content for the advertising and
broadcast industries. Led by Executive Creative Director Jonas Morganstein, Buster provides its clients with a one-stop solution, by developing and delivering dynamic ideas driven by innovative imagery that always tells a story.
Buster’s core services include design, animation and live action direction for TV commercials, TV show opens and network packages. The studio’s work has become renowned internationally for its “Sometimes Dramatic, Sometimes Quirky, but Always Intriguing” style.
Among Buster’s clients are HBO, Food Network, Bravo, HGTV, MTV, Discovery Channel, ESPN, FX and AMC to name a few.
Buster is located at 5757 Wilshire Blvd, Suite # 600, Los Angeles, CA, 90036. The phone is 323/460.4035, and the web is www.busterdesign.tv.
ABOUT STUN CREATIVE:
Launched in Los Angeles in 2000 by co-presidents Mark Feldstein and Brad Roth, Stun Creative is an award winning, Los Angeles-based advertising and marketing agency that specializes in writing, directing and producing spots and campaigns for cable and broadcast networks as well as the major studios. Stun Creative also boasts a motion graphics design and animation studio, Buster, which produces show opens, promo packages, and consumer brand advertising.
Stun Creative’s clients include TBS, FX, Bravo, ABC, Sundance Channel, Discovery Channel, GSN, 20th Television and Warner Brothers, to name a few.
In 2008, Stun Creative launched an in-house entertainment division specializing in developing and producing original scripted content for the web and television. The company has produced web series for Sony Television, Fremantle Media and IFC.
Stun Creative is located at 5757 Wilshire Blvd, Suite # 600, Los Angeles, CA, 90036. The phone is 323/460-4035 and the web is www.stuncreative.com
