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A new cinematic spot produced by creative production company Wondersmith for JELD-WEN and CMD has just debuted nationwide. Entitled "Beat," this and an earlier campaign spot entitled "Beauty Throughout" were directed by Andrew Hardaway specifically to leverage JELD-WEN's sponsorship of the 2016 HGTV Dream Home. Both spots can be viewed at http://wondersmith.tv. 

 

"Beauty Throughout" follows a family moving through their home, where windows and doors feature prominently in the design and aesthetics, and travelling dandelion seed pods add child-like wonder to the scenes. "Beat" graphically explores the wealth of design options JELD-WEN offers, and shows how those options affect a home's look and feel.

 

For CMD, the project team also consisted of creative directors Steve Cox and Gary Golden, account supervisor Scott Peters and agency producer Brenda Jacobs. "Wondersmith was a great partner on our JELD-WEN project," Cox began. "Every time we had a challenge, they delivered with creative solutions to not only keep it moving, but to make sure the final spots were top notch."

 

"Obviously, the HGTV Dream Home represents the world's best products, so it's a perfect fit for us to showcase JELD-WEN doors and windows," said Jim Parello, Vice President of Marketing for JELD-WEN. "The teams at CMD and Wondersmith helped us maximize our HGTV sponsorship by creating two cinematic spots featuring spot-on craftsmanship and positioning for our brand and products. As a result of this sponsorship and having these ads on the air, more people are talking about JELD-WEN than ever before."

 

Shot on location in and around Charlotte, Hardaway led Wondersmith's crew along with director of photography David Wilson, executive producer Joe Murray, creative director Thom Blackburn and on-set VFX supervisor Byron Nash. 

 

"In collaboration with CMD and JELD-WEN's executives, we honed-in on concepts that would allow us to provide a balance of cinematography and visual effects that made the windows and doors essential elements of a comfortable and tasteful home," Hardaway explained. "We encouraged the agency and client to shoot both spots in real homes and replace the windows and doors in CG to maintain a lived-in feel. We feel this approach paid off especially well."

 

After capturing their source footage using 6K RED EPIC Dragons, Wondersmith's post-production workflow involved a combination of tracking, rotoscoping, 3D animation and art direction to create scenes with subtle but powerful effects. After receiving graded footage from colorist Luis Silva of Incendio, editor Pedram Torbati assembled rough cuts in Apple Final Cut Pro 7. Meanwhile, Nash used Autodesk Maya together with Chaos Group's V-Ray and Adobe Creative Suite to create CG elements that were composited using The Foundry's Nuke.

 

"Knowing what we can do with CG meant that even in the absence of practical windows and 3D models, we were able to create all the needed resources to complete these projects at a world-class level and deliver spots on deadline," Nash said.

 

Wondersmith's artful CG and VFX touches allowed them to ensure that both stunning residences where they shot featured JELD-WEN windows and doors in the finished spots. While the doors of the home shown in "Beauty Throughout" are practical, all the windows in "Beat" were created in CG and replaced in each scene. Decisions about appropriate grill patterns, wood finishes and colors were made to ensure each scene looked photo-real, well-designed and color-coordinated with the practical art direction of each space.

 

"HDRI lighting techniques were used in combination with V-Ray for lighting and Nuke for compositing," Nash added. "Final color and finishing were handled using Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve."

 

Both spots feature custom scores from Jeff Elmassian of Endless Noise, and were mixed by Mike Lee of 26 Inch Audio. Complete project credits are available upon request. 

 

Additional details about the HGTV Dream Home Giveaway 2016 can be found online at http://www.hgtv.com/design/hgtv-dream-home.

 

Wondersmith is the Charlotte, North Carolina-based creative production company. Home to proven specialists creating breakthrough branded content for screens of all sizes, Wondersmith serves brands and their agencies that use smart storytelling, bold content and flawless execution to set themselves apart. From creative contributions to location productions anywhere in the world – and top-tier animation, visual effects, editing and finishing – tap the power of Wondersmith by calling 1.704.332.4040, or visiting http://wondersmith.tv.