Continuing it’s relationship with Center Theatre Group, Cinevative, an award-winning broadcast design studio has created a series of stylized, visual effects spots to promote the pre-Broadway run of “Minsky’s”.
The lavish stage musical, featuring “Saturday Night Live’s” Rachel Dratch and George Wendt from “Cheers” among other Braodway stars, gives audiences a behind the scenes peek at the “bawdy comedians and dazzling chorines” of burlesque in 1920’s New York.
Using the key art as a jumping off point, Cinevative combined live action with 2D and 3D animation to evoke the feel of the era in a fresh and exciting way.
Director Mark Ciglar multiplied a single dancer, shot against green screen into a bevy of burlesque stars surrounded by a 3D world of flashing marquee lights.
“The challenge was to be able to expand the world of the key art while maintaing the brand established by the producers”, said Ciglar. “I love using current production technology to evoke a style from a past era. It opens up a visual world that is really unique and exciting.”
The spots were created as two 15 second book-ends with the first spot used as a tease. Opening on a horizon of old fashioned Broadway lights, the camera pulls back to reveal the live-action burlesque dancers. The second spot appears at the end of the same commercial break and resolves on an animated version of the key art illustration.
The practice of using book-end spots as a tease was used to reinforce the “tease” of burlesque. The two spots were later cut into a single 30 second that included review quotes.
Cinevative shot the live action footage with the Panasonic AG-HVX200A outfitted with P2 cards. The 3D elements were rendered in Cinema 4D and composited in After Effects. Magic Bullet Suite was used to finish the stylized look of the period. Post production was completed on an 8-core Power Macs with AJA Kona cards.
The spots, which began running in January 2009, will run through the length of the production in Southern California.
