Starts at Lowe’s/Outdoor emphasizes the amazingly affordable outdoor products, machines and materials Lowe’s carries in its stores everyday. With the arrival of spring, barbecues, plants, lawn mowers and tractors come streaming out of a Lowe’s store and into the parking lot, much to the surprise of loyal Lowe’s patrons. The message is clear: spring has arrived and Lowe’s has everything you need to start living outdoors.

We were tasked with creating the army of marching furniture and garden equipment for Starts at Lowe’s/Outdoor. Dave Smith worked closely with Gerard de Thame to develop two complementary approaches to the FX. For some scenes, rigs were built so that both plants and objects could be puppeteered on green screen.

For other scenes our CG team began the lengthy process of modeling flowers, tractors, tables, chairs and umbrellas that were then animated and composited into the live action footage. Utilizing the talents of our fully integrated teams in London and New York, client changes were handled in a timely manner. Our post production expertise was complemented on this project by sister company Blind Pig, who worked closely with the client to create the motion graphics elements.

About Absolute:
Founded in 2004 by David Smith, one of world’s leading Flame artists, Absolute is a high-end VFX studio working within the commercial, emerging media, music video, and film communities. With offices in New York and London, Absolute over the years has collected numerous industry accolades including two BTAA awards, a D&AD pencil, a Cannes Lion, an APA Collection Diamond, three Andy wins and an MTV video statue. The New York office opened in 2007, helmed by CD Dirk Greene, to further facilitate Absolute’s international client roster with a growing Flame and CG service. www.absolutepost.com

The Creds:
Client: Lowe’s
Spots Title: Starts at Lowe’s/Outdoor (featured), Starts at Lowe’s/Nursery
Air Date: March 2009

Agency: BBDO New York
Art Director: Ken Matsubara
Copywriter: Colin Isley
CD: Wil Boudreau
Producer: Diane McCann
AP: Stephanie Gottlieb

Prod Company: H.S.I.
Director: Gerard De Thame
Producer(s): Fabyan Daw, Maddi Carlton

Editorial: The Cutting Room
Editor: Chuck Willis

Post/Effects: Absolute
Lead Flame: Dave Smith
Flame Artist(s): Nathan Kane, Dirk Greene
3D Artist(s): Vania Alban-Zapata, Maru Ocantos, Minh Nguyen-Ba, Jamie White, Matt Burn, Toby Walton, Liz Scully, Pete Hamilton, Keith Kamholz
Motion Graphic Designer: Ric Comline (at Blind Pig)
Combustion: Dan Leatherdale, Mark Epstein, James Cornwell, Michel Smith
EP: Andy Barmer
Producer(s): Sally Heath, Nirad `Bugs’ Russell

Related Links:
www.absolutepost.com

The CLIO Awards is the world’s most recognized global awards competition for advertising, design, and interactive. For nearly five decades, the CLIO Awards has maintained its original commitment to celebrate and reward creative excellence, honoring a powerful form of communication and its impact on modern culture. At the same time, the CLIO Awards remains focused on evolving with the industry in order to acknowledge the most current, breakthrough work. CLIO’s iconic statue is the most widely recognized and coveted symbol of the industry’s creative accomplishments.

“We are all really excited to receive the CLIOs! I mean, who would have guessed?” says Superfad Creative Director Rob Rugan. “We always thought this spot was going to be cute, but in order for it to work, we knew we had to go all the way. But then we also had to know when to pull…(pregnant pause)…back. I guess it all just came together. In the end, we are stoked about the award and would like to thank the agency, our balloon animal clown, the CLIO judges, and the smooth stylings of Barry White.”

About Superfad:
Superfad is a brand-driven design and live action production company, a collective of designers, directors, animators, and artists, their mission is to see brands in unexpected ways and to express a brand’s voice in an undeniably original fashion.

Superfad was founded in 2001 and has produced award-winning work for many of the most respected brands worldwide. Honda, Sony, Target, Adidas, and AT&T are just a few of the companies who have turned to Superfad for inspired branding.

Related Links:
www.clioawards.com
http://superfad.com

In addition to their formidable production and post production talent, Brand New School’s efforts on the project included design of a 50-foot long Coca-Cola logo and the casting of more than 40 highly-skilled athletes, including tennis players, skateboarders, yoga practitioners, and more.

“We were asked to create approximately two minutes of content for Coke,” says Jens Gehlhaar, Creative Director at Brand New School. “Specifically, the content is intended for an installation outside the Nokia Theater at L.A. Live. The theater is adjacent to the Staples Center and will be the site of the Grammy Awards. Outside the theater, there are large columns holding 14 huge, vertical screens, as well as one wide format screen over the entrance and another LED billboard on a neighboring building. It is a wacky assortment of 17 different-sized screens, but we have experience with these sorts of installations. The specific instructions from Coke gave us a lot of leeway. They wanted things very specific to the L.A. lifestyle, multicultural in look and feel, and not patronizing in any way. They wanted the focus to be on the active people involved.”

The short films reveal various athletes interacting with a huge white Coca-Cola logo backed by a special purple-red-orange gradient that breaks with the traditional Coca-Cola red in favor of a more L.A.-inspired hue.

Supported with engaging music composed by Machinehead, golfers, soccer and tennis players, wall climbers, and many more athletes all interact very physically with the immense logo. In an age when so much entertainment is achieved through computer-generated models and background, the logo is all the more astounding because it is real.

“After careful consideration, we realized that it would be more authentic to have our live actors interact with a real sculpture,” says Gehlhaar. “It is 15 feet high and more than 50 feet wide and everybody was extremely impressed with it, so much so that Coke insisted on keeping it. We did a timelapse film of its construction, just to commemorate the act.”

The engineering of the structure would eventually be put to the ultimate test, as the cast of some 40 skateboarders, climbers, and others climbed it, jumped on it, ran into it, etc.

“The logo never faltered,” says Gehlhaar proudly. “It was insanely sturdy in the end, especially considering what we put it through. We used no wires on our athletes, so there was no interaction or impact that was faked. It was all real action. It’s filming this kind of elegant, completely realistic live action that has given Brand New School such a great reputation for these kinds of jobs. Also it is rare for an installation job of this complexity to be produced in-camera; traditionally the solution would be more animation-based. There are very few companies that can pull both off.”

The job was not entirely without technological aspects however. The entire two-day shoot was shot against a blue, rather than red, background, and the final edits held more than 70 shots requiring significant keying and compositing work by the Brand New School team, all of which were then composited into a signature gradient environment.

Behind The Scenes – The Making of Coca Cola LA Live

“This was a very challenging and unusual job, but those are the ones we are most excited about,” says Gehlhaar. “Brand New School is getting very good at alternative media installations, and we are eagerly anticipating more opportunities like this. We want to be a market leader in this area.”

ABOUT BRAND NEW SCHOOL
With offices in New York and Los Angeles, Brand New School is a bicoastal directing collective working in all fields of commercial art. Ever evolving, the studio continues to cultivate a sense of wonder and exploration. For its artists and clients alike, BNS represents an opportunity to play at work, to conduct experiments in image-making, and to feed the inspiration that drives the industry.

CREDITS:
Directors:
Brand New School:Jens Gehlhaar & Ludovic Schorno

Shot on stage in Los Angeles

Production & post production:
Brand New School, Los Angeles
Producer:
David Wolfson
Director of Photography:
Ottar Gudnason
Assistant Director:
Patrick Finnegan
Key Grip:
Steve Strausser
Fabricator:
Vision Scenery Corporation
Stylist:
Christine Wada

Designer:
Wakako Ichinose
Still Photographer (banners):
Ian Brook

Editor:
Graeme Pereira
Flame Artist:
Philip Ineno
Post producer:
Craig Houchin

Color
Mark Gethin, MPC, Santa Monica

Client
The Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta

Music
Installation: Machine Head, Los Angeles
Montage: Beyond Music Library

RELATED LINKS:
www.lalive.com
www.brandnewschool.com

The promotional material is based on this year’s Bollywood theme and is a sequence of moving portraits, as a parade of characters takes their turn on screen in their rawest emotional states. Bright, solid-colored background focus attention on each cast member as they play their part in the mini drama. The edgy, interpretive storyline is an ideal representative for the type of creative work honored at the One Show Awards.

The live action shorts will be showcased in Times Square, NYC, May 1 – 8, 2009, in addition to serving as the basis for all of the promotional and branding for the awards ceremony.

“The attendees at The One Show are the most discerning creative advertising minds in the world and we’re honored to have been selected by Kevin Swanepoel, President of The One Show, to craft this essential component of the award show’s promotion” said Ian Kovalik, Creative Director of Mekanism. “The materials we’ve created for the Interactive One Show offer rich, compelling visuals filmed with the best equipment we can get our hands on.”

A Phantom HD High Speed camera was used by Mekanism to bring to life One Show Interactive’s Bollywood theme. With a 1000 fps speed, the Phantom creates a unique high-resolution, super slow motion image that captures and highlights the drama of small moments found in the lives of eight fictionalized Bollywood characters that were concepted by Mekanism. Scott Barry, directed the shoot which took place in Los Angeles.

“Mekanism really nailed this work,” said Kevin Swanepoel, President of The One Show. “We’re always looking for that elusive combination of supreme competence and fresh ideas, and Mekanism delivered for us.”

About Mekanism:
Mekanism is a San Francisco and New York based creative production studio, housing film, animation and digital content creators. We sprinkle our love of good storytelling on viral campaigns, commercials and branded entertainment to inspire measurable brand loyalty.

The Creds:
Client: One Show
Title: One Show Interstitials
Air Date: May 2009

Prod Company: Mekansim/SF
ECD: Ian Kovalik
Director/Art Director: Scott Barry
DP: David Claessen
EP: Jason Harris, Mat Lundberg
Producer: Stef Smith
Production Supervisor: Nolan Haener
Consulting Producer: Manjula Nadkarni
Flash Developer: Jamal Berkeley
Editor: Caitlin Parker
Compositor: Zachary Seidner

RELATED LINKS:
www.mekanism.com

Carousel, the centrepiece of the Cinema project, clocks in at a (totally coincidental) two minutes and 19 seconds, but Berg conceived it to work as an endless loop. Visitors to the microsite, www.cinema.philips.com, therefore have the option to ‘spin’ through the film’s single take shot repeatedly, to stop on a specific frame, or to watch it at the preordained speed. The film also contains embedded hotspots, which, when triggered, transport the viewer seamlessly from the heavily posted film to a behind-the-scenes version of the same shot. This constant moving between two layers of reality proved one of the project’s biggest and most ambitious production challenges. Viewers are able to choose between 21:9 and 16:9, turn Ambilight on and off, and “scrub” the film. The microsite’s loader doubles as a credit sequence. Rich media takeover banners drive traffic to the site by teasing viewers with an original Carousel trailer.

Credits

The Cinema campaign was developed at Tribal DDB Amsterdam by global creative director Neil Dawson, creative director/copywriter Chris Baylis, art directors Mariota Essery and Andrew Ferguson, copywriters Carla Madden, agency producers Jeroen Jedeloo and Iwona Echt.

Filming was shot by director Adam Berg via Stink Digital, London, with director of photography Fredrik Backar, executive producers Mark Pytlik, Daniel Bergmann, Stephen Brierley, producers Simon Eakhurst and Stephen Brierley.

Filming in Prague was assisted by production company Stillking, Prague, by line producer Zuzana de Pagter, first art director Jiri Ostry, production designer Peter Kunc, production manager Jiri Kotlas. Stunt co-ordinator was Lada Lahoda at Filmka, Prague.

Editor was Paul Hardcastle at Trim. VFX were done at Redrum, Stockholm, by post production supervisor Richard Lyons. Colorist was Jean-Clement Soret at MPC (Moving Picture Company) London. UK production manager was Jemma Daniel.

Music and sound design were by Michael Fakesch, with further sound design done by Tim Davis.

Three commercials, shot in an undisclosed Barcelona location, show Henry using cutting-edge Hollywood special effects to vividly bring to life the power of the Valde boot. The first one, shown here, uses disposable cars.

Thierry Henry was joined on set by the Reebok Ambassadors, a team of young amateur footballers who won Reebok Valde boot deals via a European-wide competition. They were given exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the Valde shoot, as well as being officially presented with their first pair of Reebok Valde boots by Thierry Henry.

“I had a great time making the ad – I’ve done many things with a football on the pitch but this is the first time I’ve used one to explode cars – a bit like being on the set of an action film!” said Henry. “It was a really fun, and an interesting way of showing the real benefits of this Power Unit boot technology.” he continued.

Credits

The Reebok Valde campaign was produced by M&C Saatchi Sports and Entertainment, London.

Looking back over his life, the wealthy immigrant realizes that although he may not lack in financial resources, he lacks a true heir to his name and fortune. He travels back to his homeland where he is trying to reach out to the one known relative so that he can leave his entire estate to him once he dies. The phone rings. A young man looks at the unknown phone number on the screen and hangs up. “An unknown number could be the most important of your life.” Fonecta provides the number 16400 as a service for customers who would like to know who has called.

Credits

The Fonecta Immigrant ad was developed at SEK Grey, Helsinki, by creative Jarkko Tuuri and agency producer Merja Metsavaara-Mildh at Front Desk.

Filming was shot by Tom Carty via Gorgeous Enterprises, London with director of photography Bruno Delbonnel, producer Ciska Faulkner and production designer John Beard.

Editor was Jonnie Scarlett at The Quarry, London. Post production was done at The Mill.

Client: Fonecta
Title: Immigrant
Agency: SEK Grey, Helsinki
Creative: Jarkko Tuuri
Agency Producer: Merja Metsavaara-Mildh @ Front Desk
Production company: Gorgeous Enterprises, London
Director: Tom Carty
Producer: Ciska Faulkner
Director of Photography: Bruno Delbonnel
Production Designer: John Beard
Editor: Jonnie Scarlett @ The Quarry
Post production: The Mill

The Now Network is brought to life when everything from business people to bananas (and bloodhounds,too) are duplicated and distributed in a whimsical turn on infographic style.

About Superfad
Superfad is a production company that was founded in 2001. Superfad has produced award-winning work for many of the most respected brands worldwide. Honda, Sony, Target, Adidas, and AT&T are just a few of the companies who have turned to Superfad for inspired branding.

Mekanism is a San Francisco and New York based creative production studio, housing film, animation and digital content creators. Mekanism sprinkle thier love of good storytelling on viral campaigns, commercials and branded entertainment to inspire measurable brand loyalty.

About Charles Schwab & Co
The Charles Schwab Corporation helps millions of people save, invest and manage their money. Schwab is the industry leader in serving Registered Investment Advisors, and they manage retirement plans for companies of all sizes.

Coca Cola has recently launched ‘Happiness Factory 3’ which illustrates the uplift factor of Coca Cola and how it revitalizes both the drinker; and the lovable inhabitants of the Happiness Factory.

This latest spot is part of an integrated campaign that includes radio promotions, online social networking; and an innovative partnership with Xbox. In addition the commercial features a track created by a supergroup comprised of Cee-lo, Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy, Brendon Urie from Panic at the Disco, Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes and r’n’b sensation Janelle Monae.

‘Happiness Factory 3’ follows on from the original ‘Happiness Factory‘ spot, ‘Happiness Factory II – The Movie’ and a behind the scenes ‘Mokumentary’.

The ‘Happiness Factory’ stories from the Coca Cola, Wieden+Kennedy and Psyop collective, bring much gladness and a message of positivity to our presently troubled world. In this special CGNews feature article we revisit each of the animated shorts in the series.

HAPPINESS FACTORY – ORIGINAL

To support the shows, Click animated several promos, a :30 opening and cut-down, six bumpers with integrated animation, and two live action bumpers, each playing off traditional images of circus life with high-intensity, parodied versions of classic stunts. The vibrant animation interacting with the live action created by Click 3X adds depth to the storylines, while supporting the style and humor of the shows.

Targeting the young male demographic with a weekly high energy, must-see event, See You Sunday includes Nitro Circus, a daring stunt show starring Travis Pastrana and Johnny Knoxville, Fantasy Factory, showcasing Rob Dyrdek’s wild skate-based schemes, College Humor, based on the wildly popular website, and How’s Your News, a product of South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, which follows five reporters with mental and physical disabilities.

The colorful animation helps to build the mood of each piece with outlandish antics such as animated knife-throwing, bananas brandishing chainsaws, and the carnival’s tall man upstaging all with his powerful rainbow pee-stream.

The :60 promo, Anticipation, features the shows’ stars about to perform in a sideshow complete with human cannonball, tightrope skateboarding, daredevil motorcycle jumps, and face-offs with ferocious lions. The additional animated content created by Click 3X artists follow the same themes, showcasing the bizarre but enthralling, reality-suspending sideshow worlds of the carnival grounds with effects and characters that build on the intrigue surrounding the shows.

“Harold, Evan, Thomas, Kris, and the rest of the MTV team were an absolute joy to work with on this project. I know this is a cliché, but this wasn’t work, this was fun. Tom, Erica, and I were in our creative comfort zone for this job creating seamless visual vfx, creative editorial and subversive, psychedelic graphics. In fact, many of the pieces were actually a result of some organic, on-set brainstorming between our teams.” Creative Director/VFX Artist Mark Szumski.

Indebted is a campaign directed at college students that aims to raise awareness about excessive debt and promote action to help stop the fiscal crisis in the U.S. With Indebted 2, Superfad helps illustrate what young people might expect from the future, a bleak picture if we don’t help turn back the hands of the national debt clock. This spot is the follow up to an earlier Superfad animated piece that focused on the pitfalls of personal debt.

Visual Effects Supervisor Jonah Hall oversaw a 30-person team at Digital Domain. The company leveraged its extensive knowledge in creating photo-real digital cars, as well as its expertise in modeling and animating highly detailed mechanical imagery. The project also brought some longtime collaborators together again, including Rinsch and cinematographer Claudio Miranda.

“We have a very close relationship with Carl and RSA, who in turn often brings Claudio on board as his DP, so we’ve all developed a sort of shorthand when we work together,” said Digital Domain Visual Effects Supervisor Jonah Hall. “There’s a lot of trust on-set and conversely, they let us do our thing back at Digital Domain so we can come up with the best solutions for the creative and technical problems at hand.”

“City”opens on the RX sitting in traffic. But the vehicle has a secret weapon—XM real-time traffic monitoring that reveals driving conditions on the road ahead. Suddenly, massive cranes descend from the sky, picking up the offending traffic and lifting buildings from their foundations so the driver can travel unimpeded to his final destination.