The principals of design-focused production studio Leviathan (www.lvthn.com) are very proud to detail their collaborations with HELLO! director Paul Schneider and creatives from advertising agency Factory Design Labs and The North Face, the world’s premier supplier of authentic, innovative and technically advanced outdoor apparel, equipment and footwear. rn rnFor the integrated, cross-promotional campaign launching this week in conjunction with Dick’s Sporting Goods, deliverables include a :30 broadcast spot featuring The North Face athletes Hilaree O’Neill, Kris Erickson, Cory Richards and Ingrid Backstrom as they shop at a Dick’s store while also being shown in extreme alpine settings atop various mountains. As conceived by creatives from Factory Design Labs, the spot and four 2:00 in-store videos feature subtle winter effects, artful transitions from inside the store to the outdoor settings, and original graphics, all of which were created by Leviathan under Schneider’s direction. Leviathan also handled all the editing and compositing in-house. rnrn
The North Face / Dick’s Sporting Goods (master) from Leviathan on Vimeo.
"We have a great relationship with Paul Schneider, who used to work with Leviathan principal Matt Daly at Digital Kitchen some years ago," said Leviathan’s executive producer Chad Hutson. "Paul is well known for capturing authentic emotion, natural performances and for creating mesmerizing match cuts. For this project, we knew that the editorial would largely drive the campaign’s concepts – and that the visual effects would have to be subtle, if not completely transparent. Given his extensive hands-on knowledge of VFX, Paul was a great collaborator, and the team from Factory Design Labs was a dream to work with."rn rnBeginning with gorgeous outdoor footage of The North Face athletes climbing and skiing in extreme locales, Schneider also shot new footage of the athletes inside a Dick’s Sporting Goods store using a Red Epic camera system. At Leviathan’s studio, Andrew Maggio edited the spots using Apple Final Cut Pro, and snow effects were created with a combination of Autodesk Maya and Adobe After Effects. Other tracking and effects shots were completed using Nuke from The Foundry, along with After Effects. Final color is courtesy of Nolo, and project finishing was handled by Hootenanny. rn rn"This was a great example of a ‘less is more’ approach to post-production," said Leviathan’s executive creative director Jason White. "Our plan was to add subtle, natural VFX elements, and much of our involvement centered around removing unwanted visual elements in the footage to craft perfect shots. Coloring and finishing outdoor footage is never an easy task, and Hello! and Nolo did a great job recording and grading the footage to look spectacular."rn rn"Being a relatively new company, much of what we’ve become known for is high-end CG and experiential work, so it’s very nice to shine a light on our team’s visual effects roots as well. We’re stoked to show agencies and production partners what we’re capable of, and we’re very proud to have been part of this extraordinary team effort."rn rnThe agency’s creative team consists of chief creative officer Blake Ebel, creative VP/director Andrew Price, associate creative director/copywriter Tom Goodrich, art director Greg Ryan, and producer Melany Fehrenbach. Campaign audio is courtesy of Another Country. Complete project credits are available upon request. rn rnTo learn more about The North Face, please visit www.thenorthface.com.rn rnAbout LeviathanrnLeviathan is a design-focused production studio specializing in the creation of large-scale visual experiences across all media. The emerging studio’s leaders are champions of breakthrough design and branding who draw from experiences earned within the world’s leading digital agencies, production companies, VFX and motion studios. Also leveraging the talents of extraordinary storytellers, software developers, producers and artists, Leviathan develops cutting edge content that maximizes the greatest capabilities of today’s media platforms, from broadcast to experiential installations. Since launching in 2010, the studio’s collaborations with agencies, brands and leading filmmakers have resulted in sensational projects across all markets and industries, and its strategic alliance with V Squared Labs (www.vsquaredlabs.com) further reinforces its leadership role in large-scale experiential event production. To learn more about Leviathan, please visit www.lvthn.com, or call executive producer Chad Hutson at +1.312.878.1500.
