Wumblers are multi-colored bulbous-shaped characters whose food falls from the sky, whose babies hatch in watermelon patches and whose stories blend inspiration, imagination and fun. The show’s aim is simple; to challenge children to think globally and embrace the idea that our differences can unite us.

Four episodes were submitted to the Telly Awards. Three won Bronze awards and the episode What To Do? took home the highest honor, a Silver Telly award. What To Do? focuses on three young Wumbler friends, Bertrum, his pal Gibby and a talking bilingual snail named Raimundo. When Gibby’s parents ask her and her friends to keep an eye on the watermelon patch while they go to the store, the unexpected arrival of a new baby Wumbler tests the friend’s ability to stay calm in a crisis and work together to make the best of the situation until Gibby’s parents return.

Laura Wellington, a mother and former preschool teacher, created The Wumblers. The series is partnered with The National Watermelon Association of the United States and currently airs on several channels through out the US and worldwide. In addition it airs in Spanish on the US Spanish language channel Sorpresa.

About the Telly Awards:
For 29 years, the Telly Awards has recognized the finest in creative work. Their winners include the most prestigious agencies, production companies, in-house creative departments and TV stations in the world. It is one of the largest and most prestigious award of its kind, receiving 13,000 entries annually from all 50 states and 30 countries around the world.

“The Wumblers is a truly unique show. It’s a fun, educational series whose overall purpose is to unite children around the world through humor and social responsibility. It’s inspiring to see it receive such recognition.”
Zviah Eldar – Rhino CEO

About Rhino:
Since its launch in 2000, Rhino has created award-winning visual effects, design, and animation for commercials, VFX for feature films, episodic television, webisodic mini-series, and videogame cinematics. The company’s principals and artists have also led the industry’s exploration into the boundless potential of branded digital content.

CREDITS
Title: The Wumblers
Created by Laura Wellington
Prod Company: Rhino/Gravity
EP/CD: Zviah Eldar

RELATED LINKS:
www.rhinofx.tv

“The main focus of these spots was to show that J-POWER creates energy and makes everything possible for daily life,” Banks explained. “One was an environmental spot, and the other was a global spot that speaks to the industries, businesses, infrastructures and everything that the company powers.”

Although the original approach called for the use stock footage, Banks and the agency’s creatives, including creative director and copywriter Isamu Nakamura, and art directors Takehiko Araki and Kenichi Horie, ultimately agreed on the greater benefits of capturing original live-action footage for the project. During one day of green screen shooting on a soundstage in Tokyo, Banks and director of photography Naoki Noda captured HD footage of actors and various animals using the ARRIFLEX D-21 camera package.

Artists at Stardust’s Santa Monica studio then used Maya to create the natural habitats, the turbine and many other elements for both spots, and Adobe After Effects was used for visual effects and compositing.

About Stardust Studios
Stardust is an award-winning creative production company, specializing in motion design, animation, visual effects and live-action production. Led by founder and executive creative director Jake Banks, Stardust’s Santa Monica and New York offices continually redefine creativity for commercial, on-air, music video and in-store presentations. Their recent work – including projects for the world’s top ad agencies, brands and recording artists – has earned numerous awards and worldwide editorial exposure. For more information, please visit www.stardust.tv.

Credits:
PROJECT NAME: J-POWER “Global” and “Environment”
RUNNING TIME: 2 x :30
DATE OF FIRST AIRING: April 15, 2009 (Japan only)
FILM STAGE/LOCATION(S): Japan

CLIENT: Electric Power Development Co., Ltd (”J-POWER”)
CITY/STATE: Tokyo, Japan

AD AGENCY: McCann Erickson Japan, Inc.
CITY/STATE: Tokyo, Japan
CREATIVE DIRECTOR/COPYWRITER: Isamu Nakamura
ART DIRECTORS: Takehiko Araki, Kenichi Horie

PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Kirameki, Inc. & Stardust Studios
CITY/STATE: Tokyo, Japan & Bicoastal, USA
DIRECTOR: Jake Banks
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Naoki Noda
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Sachiko Tamaru (Kirameki)

DESIGN/ANIMATION COMPANY: Stardust Studios
CITY/STATE: Bicoastal, USA
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jake Banks
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Paul Abatemarco
DESIGN DIRECTOR: Neil Tsai
PRODUCERS: Jody MacKinnon, Clara Park, Steven Poulsen
DESIGNERS: Neil Tsai, Gretchen Nash, Tosh Kodama, Bill Bak, Ling Feng, Angela Ko, Jenny Ko, Juliet Park
ANIMATORS: Sang Lee, Angie Tien, Brian Broussard, George Longo, Damon Snyder, Ryan Hooks, Marisol Baltierra, Catherine Yoo, Giancarlo Rondani, Maithy Tran, Thomas Horne
2D ARTISTS: Brian Williams, Davina Sanchex, Stephen Edwards, Kristen Swanson

MUSIC ARTIST: Hifana
MUSIC PRODUCER: Masayo Okino

ADDITIONAL POST-PRODUCTION: Sony PCL
CITY/STATE: Tokyo, Japan
ONLINE EDITOR: Masashi Hosoda
MIXER: Tsutomu Higa

FINAL MIX COMPANY: Omnibus
CITY/STATE: Tokyo, Japan
MIXER: Norisato Nakauchi

RELATED LINKS:
www. kirameki.cc
www.stardust.tv
www.jpower.co.jp

In a pair of whimsical new :30 and :15 spots, McGuinness adds a human touch to the face of Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 product. In the spot Deployment, one IT pro is packed with camping gear, prepping for a large, global deployment project. The other calm, collected IT pro inquires about the gear, stating he has his own project as well, and shows the other IT pro how his deployment will work better.

Showdown, the second spot, features dueling IT pros intent on one-upping each other with their web deployment strategies. What becomes clear in both spots is that one of the most effective ways to effortlessly manage, finish and deploy web applications is through Windows Server 2008 with IIS 7.0 technology, underscored by the appearance of the iconic, CGI created Windows Server 2008 robot “IT 24-7″ at the end of each spot.

When asked why Microsoft chose to run this particular advertising campaign, Microsoft Group Marketing Manager Colette Stallbaumer said, “We wanted to let Web designers and developers know that it’s possible to run both their ASP.NET and PHP apps on the Windows platform. We wanted to get that message out in a way that would really resonate with the people out there working with the web.”

Says Kommitted Executive Producer Marc Siegel, “The agency was keen on taking the action of this campaign out of the server room and into the real world, which gave Nathan plenty of room to stretch his live action directorial skill set.” Earlier phases of Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 campaign, which included the spots Imitator and Rodeo, both helmed by McGuinness, revolved primarily around the hero CGI robot IT 24-7.

“Working with Microsoft and the same creative team at McCann gave us the ability to experiment and expand on what we accomplished in the previous campaign. This time we went for a more organic approach,” says McGuinness. “Utilizing real locations and minimizing the green screen lent itself to the actors having an easier time finding their key moments. The end result was incredibly fun and inspiring.”

A holdover from the last campaign is the Windows Server 2008 robot IT 24-7, which was brilliantly animated by Pitor Karwas and his skilled team at VFX and design studio Asylum. The creative will run internationally from April 6 to the end of June 2009.

About Kommitted:
Production company Kommitted Films was founded in 2005 by Director Nathan McGuinness, the Academy Award and Bafta nominated Co-Founder/Creative Director of the VFX company, Asylum. Shortly after, in 2006, veteran Executive Producer Marc Siegel was brought on to expand the directorial roster, feature film slate, and music video presence. Over a short time period, Kommitted Films has numerous recent high-profile spots for Target (peterson milla hooks/MN), Nintendo (Leo Burnett/Chicago) and Blackberry (RIM) (Arc Worldwide/Chicago).

The Creds:
Client: Microsoft
Spot Title: Deployment, The Showdown
Air Date: April 6, 2009

Agency: McCann Worldgroup San Francisco
Executive VP/Chief Creative Officer: Rob Bagot
SVP/Executive CD(s): Josh Denberg, Paul Hirsch
SVP/ACD/Copywriter: Doug Green
SVP/ACD/Art Director: Michael Furlong
VP/ACD/Art Director: John Reid
Senior Broadcast Producer: Annie Uzdavinis
Senior Integrated Producer: Jose Rivera
Integrated Producer: Monica Velasquez
Software Architect: Todd Spatafore
Interactive Developers: Dan Magsino, Michael Trueman, Jacqueline Vo
Senior Interactive Designer: Ariel Chang

Prod Company: Kommitted
Director: Nathan McGuinness
DP: Sal Totino
EP: Marc Siegel
Producer: Jodi Fisher
Prod Designer: Aron Beroud

Post/Effects: Asylum
VFX Animation Supervisor: Piotr Karwas
Lead Inferno Artist: Miles Essmiller
EP: Michael Pardee
Producer: Ryan Meredith
Production Coordinator: Emily Hoovler
Bidding Producer: Michael Hanley
Compositing Supervisor: Tim Davies
Inferno Artist: Colleen Smith
3D Animator(s): Craig Van Dyke, Samir Lyons
3D Animator/Lighter: Michael Shelton
3D Lighter(s): Mathew Maude, Michael Sean Foley
3D Tracker(s): Eddie Offerman, Michael Lori
3D Rigger: Omar McClendon
Rotoscope Artist(s): Elissa Bello, Laura Murillo, James Lee
Lead Matte Painter/Designer: Tim Clark

Editorial: Cosmo Street
Editor: Katz
Assistant Editor: Sean Lagrange
EP(s): Yvette Cobarrubias, Jerry Sukys

Telecine: Company 3
Colorist: Stephan Sonnenfeld

Sound Design: Machinehead
Sound Designer: Kip Smedley
Creative Director/ Sound Designer: Stephen Dewey
EP: Patty Chow Dewey

Audio Mix: Eleven Sound
Engineer/ Mixer: Jeff Payne
Asst. Engineer: Luis Rosario
EP: D.J. Fox-Engstrom

RELATED LINKS:
www.kommittedfilms.com

Each team used the same character, Trixi, the festival’s mascot to tell a short story between :30 seconds and 2 minutes. Animation students from international film schools, as well as independent animators and producers, 30 years or younger qualified for participation.

The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (5-10 May 2009) was founded in 1982 and is one of the biggest and most important festivals of animation film worldwide. An amount of 52,500 euros prize money in total is awarded in seven competition categories. The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film works in close relation with fmx/09, Europe’s biggest conference on animation, effects, games and digital media.

Directed by: Kompost (Oliver Conrad and Gian Klainguit) of DUCK

About DUCK:
Los Angeles-based DUCK, formerly Duck Soup Studios, is a continually evolving creative studio producing commercials, music videos, short films and web content. DUCK offers a wide range of services, including live action and integration, character design, film title design, 2D and 3D animation, digital compositing, digital/traditional ink & paint. In recent years, the studio has expanded, adding an original content division that works with writers and animators on unique ideas for film and TV.

Related Links:
www.duckstudios.com

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

Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

The highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, “Terminator Salvation” is directed by McG (”Charlie’s Angels,” “We Are Marshall”). The screenplay is by Michael Ferris & John Brancato. Moritz Borman, Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek and Jeffrey Silver are the producers, with Jeanne Allgood, Dan Lin, Mario F. Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna and Joel B. Michaels serving as executive producers.

Wishing to avoid comparisons with the Transformers franchise, McG has stated “Transformers is an excellent movie, but our film is not about big robots. I wanted it to have lots of hardware and velocity, but I didn’t want to hang the whole movie on it.”

Visual Effects for the movie were undertaken by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), with Asylum fx and Rising Sun Pictures bringing their skills to various sequences.

And in addition to the brilliant CG work generated for ‘Terminator Salvation’, McG contracted Stan Winston studios to create real life models of some of the terminator characters that the human cast could interact with.

Stan Winston, the special effects pioneer who designed the original Terminator endoskeleton, worked on Terminator Salvation prior to his death in June this year. McG intends to dedicate the moive to Winston’s memory.

The film stars Christian Bale as John Connor (”The Dark Knight”), Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright (”The Great Raid”), Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese (”Star Trek”), Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor (”Spider-Man 3″), Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams (”What Just Happened?”), Common as Barnes, (”Wanted”), Jane Alexander as Virginia (”The Unborn”), Jadagrace as Star and Helena Bonham Carter as Serena Kogen (”Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”)

“Terminator Salvation” will be released in the U.S. on May 21, 2009 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Sony Pictures Releasing International is distributing the film in most international territories between May 2009 and June 2009.

CREDITS:
Director: McG
Screenplay: Michael Ferris & John Brancato
Producers: Moritz Borman, Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek and Jeffrey Silver
Executive producers:  Jeanne Allgood, Dan Lin, Mario F. Kassar, Andrew G. Vajna and Joel B. Michaels
Cinematographer:  Shane Hurlbut
Production designer:  Martin Laing
Editor:  Conrad Buff
Costume designer:  Michael Wilkinson
Visual effects supervisor:  Charlie Gibson
Animatronics supervisor:  John Rosengrant
Music: Danny Elfman

SOURCES & RELATED LINKS:
www.sonypictures.net/movies/terminatorsalvation
http://terminatorsalvation.warnerbros.com
Industrial Light & Magic: www.ilm.com
Rising Sun Pictures: www.rsp.com.au
Asylum fx: www.asylumfx.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 fully computer-animated opening was designed by Hall to look and feel like one of the epic stop-motion masterpieces of Terry Gilliam or Tim Burton. The content artfully presents a take-off of the strangely similar aesthetic of studio titles – like Hollywood with a dramatic twist – that welcomes viewers to Newport Beach and their 10th annual celebration of film with wit and charm.

“Andy Hall is a mix of pure enthusiasm and sheer talent,” began Scott McDonald, creative director at RPA. “Our client understood and supported what we were trying to do and believed in the artistry of the project. Elastic, Andy and a52 contributed such a sharp point of view – the very first ingredient was world class – we just kept throwing gasoline on that fire. I got to see this piece play on the biggest movie screen this side of the Mississippi and, let me tell you, it dropped some jaws.”

“Being as this is the festival’s 10th anniversary, the initial idea was a celebration of fanfare to the studios,” Hall explained. “With that in mind, I wanted to create a narrative that took us on a journey connecting all these pieces. After much thought, it felt right to give the work a sense of style that tipped its hat to those opening fanfares – but in a whimsical way… and getting back to my roots in animation, I really wanted to create a unique vision that would make the opening something special in its own right.”

Working closely with a52’s CG team, Hall achieved his desired style by focusing on the staging of the various shots in the sequence, while adding countless details and textures to ensure that each world feels like a hand-crafted set, while the separate elements fit together into the action-filled narrative like clockwork.

“I was heavily influenced by the work of Terry Gilliam, particularly ‘The Adventures of Baron Munchausen’ because of its theatrical nature,” Hall added. “By giving it a lot of texture and layering the lighting, I was able to capture a stage-like quality, and the whole film became very much a labor of love. I wanted there to be layers of detail, so that every time it’s watched, viewers might see something new.”

The end-frame of Hall’s open, showing an iconic 3D sand sculpture forming the words, “10th of a Century: Newport Beach Film Festival,” is the image featured on the festival’s poster, program and within its print advertising.

Finally, Hall also confirmed that Autodesk Maya 2009 formed the vital component of the project’s production. “Especially with the new feature sets like the animation layers, it allowed for even great flexibility to create this imagery exactly the way I imagined it… if not better.”

About Elastic
Elastic is a full-service design studio launched in Santa Monica in 2008 by the founders of editorial company Rock Paper Scissors and visual effects company a52.

About a52
Established in 1997 as a home for the very latest high-end photo-real visual effects technologies and the industry’s most innovative and talented graphic design artists, visual effects boutique a52 creates award-winning imagery for the world’s most visually ambitious commercial and television projects. Having relocated to Santa Monica in 2007, the company’s work has earned AICP Show recognition, along with recent “Outstanding Commercial” Emmy, Andy, BDA, Belding, Clio, British Design and Art Direction, International Monitor, International Automotive Advertising, London International Advertising, One Show and PROMAX awards.

CREDITS:
Project Name: 10th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival “Tenth of a Century”
Running Time: :30
Date Aired: April 23, 2009 (in-theater only)

Client: Newport Beach Film Festival
Founder & Head of Marketing: Todd Quartararo

AD Agency: RPA
Chief Creative Offier: David Smith
Creative Director/Art Director: Scott McDonald
SVP/Executive Producer: Gary Paticoff

Design/Production Company: Elastic
Director: Andy Hall
Executive Producer: Alex Gorodetzki
Producer: Jenny Bright

VFX/Animation/Finishing Company: a52
Executive Producer: Linda Carlson
Producer: Jenny Bright
Film/DI Colorist: Patrick Murphy
CG Supervisor: Kirk Shintani & Max Ulichney
3D Artists: Adam Newman, Paulo de Almada, Christopher Janney

Music & Sound Design: Robot Repair
Executive Producer & Sound Designer: Douglas Darnell
Composer: Kael Alden

Final Mix Company: Framework Sound
Mixer: Ken Dahlinger

RELATED LINKS:
www.a52.com
www.elastic.tv

Join the Autodesk Imagine Tour and discover how Autodesk® 2010 creative software can benefit television and film professionals as well as game developers.

Sign Up To Attend

At this information-packed event, you’ll learn how to:

* Improve your production development process
* Solve real-world production challenges
* Gain a competitive advantage by using Autodesk solutions for film, television, and games
* Explore Autodesk 2010 media and entertainment solutions

Today, television and film facilities as well as game studios are being asked to deliver more content than ever before, faster than ever before. And with growing audience expectations, it’s crucial that the quality of this content be second to none. Fortunately, Autodesk offers industry-leading creative tools for film and television professionals and game developers.

Through these Autodesk solutions, and the Autodesk® FBX® technology, you can create a virtual production space based on intelligent assets. In this space you’ll gain support for creative collaboration, which can result in greater production efficiency.

Sign up now for the Autodesk Imagine Tour and put the power of 2010 Autodesk software to work for you. Registration is free, but space is limited, so reserve your spot today.

Sign Up To Attend

Who Should Attend?

* 3D Artists
* Animators
* Art Directors
* Creative Directors
* Game Designers
* Game Developers
* Production Managers
* Technical Directors
* Visual Effects Artists
* Visual Effects Supervisors

Upcoming Dates:

May 12 – Dallas, TX
May 28 – New York, NY
June 4 – San Jose, CA

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

The video features U2 playing to a small crowd in an intimate venue in Somerville, Massachusetts. The Somerville Theater is known for being the first place the band originally played in the US. Kreuger shot the video on eight HD CAM cameras and four HDV camcorders in a freewheeling experiment designed to harken back to the days of punk rock, resulting in a variety of interesting, ever-shifting camera angles.

Shepherd and Kreuger worked closely to choose a grade for each camera to achieve various sorts of bleach bypass looks, giving them a set of dailies similar to the type of graded dailies of a traditional, film-shot music video. By utilizing multiple cameras in such a manner, the crew was able to tweak individual shots as they went along. In order to avoid the flat, unfilmlike finish that so often accompanies HD footage, Duncan edited the whole project on Final Cut Pro in HD format and used the program’s internal color correction to apply a more interesting look and feel to the dailies before commencing shot selection.

89 Edit’s East Coast Managing Director Sharon Lew notes, “Tom (Kreuger) did a great job capturing all the footage, and Duncan got to try out some interesting new editing techniques that are helping to transform us into a more efficient, dynamic studio.”

The process of editing the video was a watershed moment for 89, which was able to output a finished, uncompressed HD edit straight to the Smoke/Flame suite from a laptop using Final Cut Pro, rather than replicating all the work “online” at a later stage, saving time and money and allowing them to spend more time on digital cleanup. The crew found that, while there were still good reasons for editing many projects “offline” in SD, individual projects – like this U2 video – are ideally suited for editing with this new technology.

“Whether dictated by cost, time constraints, or simple creative realities, editors, directors and producers have a range of options open to them that previously were unrealistic or impractical,” noted 89’s Duncan. “The fact that all this power is available on set, or even in a field in the middle of Wyoming just shows that the way we’ve been editing all these years may be about to get a lot more fun. I wouldn’t say that I’ve made a total conversion yet, but, being a bit of a control freak, I like having the power to do the finish work, too, and this could get addicting.”

The Creds:
Artist: U2
Song Title: Magnificent

DP/Director: Tom Krueger

Post/Effects: Headlight
EP: Steve Holiner

Editorial: 89 Edit
Editor: Duncan Shepherd
Managing Director: Sharon Lew

Shoot Location: Somerville, Massachusetts

About 89 Edit:
89 Editorial, a bicoastal creative editorial & design company presents an award-winning editorial roster servicing leading advertisers and content creators worldwide at their state-of-the-art studios. The company, along with sister brand Headlight Design + VFX provides comprehensive servicing from rough-cut editorial through completion for TV commercials, music videos, emerging media, feature and long-format clientele. The two companies have collaborated on many notable efforts, most recently GEICO and Walmart for The Martin Agency, Olay for Saatchi and American Express for Ogilvy, NY amongst others.

www.89edit.com

Directed by the award winning team of Pete Docter (“Monsters, Inc.”) and Bob Peterson; ‘Up’ is extremely funny and often poignant and is an animated tale that will lift the most down at heart.

Pixar’s Up hits theaters on May 29th 2009.

About Pixar:
Pixar Animation Studios is an Academy Award winning computer animation studio with the technical, creative and production capabilities to create a new generation of animated feature films. Pixar combine proprietary technology and world-class creative talent to develop computer-animated feature films with memorable characters and heart warming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages.

Pixar & Disney
In May 1991, Pixar entered into the Feature Film Agreement with Walt Disney Pictures for the development and production of up to three computer animated feature films to be marketed and distributed by Disney. It was pursuant to the Feature Film Agreement that Toy Story was developed, produced, and distributed. In February 1997, Pixar entered into the Co-Production Agreement (which superseded the Feature Film Agreement) with Disney pursuant to which Pixar, on an exclusive basis, agreed to produce five original computer-animated feature-length theatrical motion pictures for distribution by Disney. The five original Pictures under the Co-Production Agreement were A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Cars. Toy Story 2, the theatrical sequel to Toy Story, was released in November 1999, and is also governed by the Co-Production Agreement.

CREDITS:
Directed by: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Produced by: Jonas Rivera
Written by: Bob Peterson, Ronnie del Carmen
music by: Michael Giacchino
Distributed by: Walt Disney Pictures

CAST:
Edward Asner
Christopher Plummer
John Ratzenberger
Jordan Nagai

Updated Trailers: