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

For Patrick McDonough, founder/creative director of PMcD, the package needed to convey the essence of the show — characters from different backgrounds on separate journeys until fates collide and lives are changed forever. To capture the elements of tension and danger, McDonough and his creative team in collaboration with Brian Kintz and the Starz team shot images of glass shattering and metal twisting as well as time-lapse footage of the Los Angeles skyline using the super high-speed Phantom digital camera (1000 fps), The show’s logo is seen projected over myriad surfaces and layered throughout the footage and graphic elements.

”The idea was to graphically illustrate the uneasy and volatile quality of the relationships seen in the show,” McDonough said. ”The high-speed photography of breaking glass and crushing metal visually suggests the random destruction of lives. We also wanted to capture the character of Los Angeles and give it a sensual quality. The time-lapse photography captures a feeling of chaos and the randomness of life in general.”

Commissioned to create a series of promos for TV, web and cinema, Superfad developed and animated the launch spots for the three iconic red noses (This One, That One and The Other One, new designs for 2009) and in doing so help developed the awareness campaign hand in hand with the charity. The animated noses also feature in the launch trailer starring the comic duo Simon Pegg and Nick frost.

“Breathing life into the three noses was a lovely animation project, made all the more satisfying in the light of the incredible achievements of comic relief. It also helped that we kind of fell in love with the noses themselves and so channeled that love into making them move in a proper rubber nose authentic way. I think that makes us rubber animation pioneers.” Superfad London

The :30 and :60 spots pique our senses as various types of race inspired music sets the tone for the high-energy build up. Flashes of Full Throttle are intercut throughout, showing how the drivers and their entourages get “fueled up” for the intense races.

Editor Luis Moreno keeps us on the edge of our seats by jump cutting from one scene to next. By creating discontinuous scenes, Moreno creates a form of emotional continuity that makes us feel like spectators.

The film is the debut for the studio’s newest addition, Director Vinicius Costa. In the studio’s tradition of having new directors create a film based on their idea of The Special Guest, Vinicius Costa created “Special Guest: The Journey” The film employs the metaphor of travel using a neatly-packed suitcase to reveal the company’s diverse and multi-faceted capabilities.

“I was visiting New York on business, and saw an interesting book on perfect packing,” says the Brazil-based Costa. “It occurred to me that just looking at someone’s luggage could tell you a lot about the owner’s personality. The idea stayed with me, and I started thinking of Special Guest as a suitcase full of unique techniques, options, and creative styles, all right there for the taking.”

Opening with a full-screen shot of neatly folded shirts and other apparel, “Special Guest: The Journey” widens out to reveal the scene on a t-shirt. A pair of arms reach forward to deftly fold the t-shirt and place it in a suitcase. As the camera pans to the left, the suitcase extends to reveal a wide variety of brightly patterned shirts.

While Rhino has always been known for its work in VFX and CG-oriented design and animation, the addition of Gravity’s resources has been a huge complement, adding more design depth and stylistic vision to their creative arsenal, and opening up unique opportunities for a variety of new media ventures, larger-scale pitches and projects, and global campaigns. Solidifying their position as a design and effects force across four screens, Rhino has doubled in size, with the talent, partnerships, and resources to deliver VFX, character animation, brand building, content creation, and digital solutions to the world’s top brands, agencies, and entertainment companies.

With Gravity’s locations in both Tel Aviv and Toronto coupled with Rhino’s New York and Connecticut studios, the company has diversified their offerings and greatly expanded their capabilities. All completely technologically linked, the union creates an international brigade of the industry’s leading artists. Rhino’s vast internal bandwidth and worldwide presence enable them to take on a variety of projects, for any client, anywhere.

Commenting on the re-brand, Zviah Eldar, CEO North America, explains, “A year ago, we saw a great opportunity in aligning Gravity and rhinofx, leveraging our locations around the world and combining the advertising and film experience with online and mobile media expertise. Each of our offices is linked creatively and technically, strengthening our commitment to expand our services to agencies, film studios, and brands across all platforms. Now, Rhino delivers much more than visual effects and the name change will help reflect these capabilities.”

In addition to this broader, diversified creative approach, Rhino is launching a branding package including a new identity, website, and materials to better reflect this vision. The studio has done an expansive build-out of two entire floors at their New York City location, bringing their artists and producers together to create a more open and collaborative environment.

Supporting this evolution, Rhino recently undertook a mobile and alternative media project, collaborating with GS New Media, Inc. and Sun Microsystems, Inc. to build a state of the art virtual world for a global children’s television brand The Saddle Club. The interactive experience, which lets young girls celebrate friendship, adventure, and horses, was built on the Project Darkstar platform, the breakthrough open source online game platform invented by Sun.

Expanding on their vision for mobile content, Eldar notes, “We have combined years of mobile experience with design and creative talent to position ourselves at the forefront of the changing worlds of both online and mobile content development. Our artists and production teams can deliver the high-quality rich graphics, animation, and 3D that are quickly arriving for these emerging channels.”

In addition to The Saddle Club, the Rhino team is also looking at expanding on Gravity’s prior mobile content hit, Gemma, which was one of the first mobisode series ever released. The project, done with Orange Israel mobile, was picked up for both online and television distribution.

Managing Director Rick Wagonheim comments, “The relationship with the multiple offices has afforded a larger creative bandwidth, access to more ideas, and an ability to work with artists from different backgrounds and disciplines. This has contributed a different perspective, with a wider range of talent working under the guidance of Rhino’s New York based creative directors. It’s very similar to the global agency model. When an agency is pitching new business or developing new campaigns for an existing client, they use multiple offices and multiple creative teams under the guidance of a worldwide creative director orchestrating the teams to flush out the best solutions, the smartest concepts, and the most promising creative. We’re doing the same thing on a smaller scale. We’ve expanded our creative prowess and that directly benefits the client with better results coming from more options.”

Rhino’s most recent work includes campaigns for Verizon, Cadillac, Chrylser, Subway and Oreo.

Wagonheim notes, “The Subway project is indicative of a growing trend, with clients approaching studios seeking one-stop solutions that combine shooting, editing, and effects-all under one roof. With Subway, Vico truly led the entire project-working as both Director and Creative Director. This happened after the agency initially approached us to do the effects. After presenting Vico’s vision, it became clear that the effects determined how the live action had to be shot to tell the complete story.” Wagonheim continues, “We’re going to see more of this trend moving forward-where we will need to do the entire project to get both the most creative and most efficient output. In addition to Rhino’s talent directing the live action, the relationship with Gravity also affords access to international directors when appropriate.”

The re-branding also comes on the heels of several major feature films projects completed in their new Connecticut-based film location. For the latest film, The Weinstein Company’s The Reader, nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Picture, the team worked closely with noted director Stephen Daldry to add a distinct sense of reality to the historical piece.

Commenting on the evolution of their film effects business, COO/EP Camille Geier explains, “The film medium is a constant collaboration with the director, because they really are the client and we work together to see the project all the way through. This is opposed to spots, where most directors are off to the next shoot, requesting quick-times to see the progress. It’s a very different experience when the client is the director.”

As the VFX provider for DreamWorks’ supernatural romantic comedy Ghost Town, as well as supplying intricate effects for Revolution Studios’ Perfect Stranger and Weinstein Company’s Nanny Diaries, Rhino solidified its position as one of the east coast’s leading animation and VFX studios.

“Our feature business has grown very nicely, even with the Writer’s strike, our feature revenue increased in ‘08 over the prior year, and we are already reading more scripts than in the beginning of 2008,” continued Geier.

Rhino is currently finishing work on I Love You Phillip Morris, a dark comedy starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the Premieres category. In the four years since Geier joined the company to help build the feature film side of the business, Rhino has built a considerable body of work, including multiple turns as a film’s sole VFX provider, utilizing significant new bandwidth, new space, and additional resources to become a know feature effects entity.

Breaking away from just traditional projects, the company also revisited their work for Radio City Music Hall, expanding and updating the 12-minute 3D virtual tour of NYC, and aligning the visuals, angles and timing to coincide impeccably with the huge portable screens of the traveling nationwide live stage performance.

Rhino’s recent projects represent this new level of diversity, from the surreal animation spots for Verizon to the recreation of Post War Germany for The Reader to the highly acclaimed long-form tour of New York City for The Christmas Spectacular.

Eldar continues, “We are excited about being able to deliver more dimensions and more creative solutions to our clients-we are already doing some really amazing work that is truly integrated across media channels and screens.”

The trend will continue in 2009, as the team finalizes works for several major P&G products, launches The Saddle Club, and with the upcoming release of I Love You Phillip Morris. With their own updated capabilities now carefully incorporated into their brand identity, the company stands to tighten their hold on the top of content creation for the design and VFX industry, and further establish themselves as the universal provider of multi-platform media, design, and effects.

About Rhino:
Rhino is an award winning animation and visual effects studio with a global vision and worldwide network of talent, partnerships and resources. As they have grown and become more diverse, so have their projects for the world’s top brands, agencies and entertainment companies. The company’s principals and artists have also led the industry’s exploration into the boundless potential of branded digital content. By cultivating extensive relationships with key brands, advertising agencies, and film/TV studios, Rhino utilizes its creative directors and artists to develop and execute powerful branded entertainment to build both identity and awareness.

www.rhinofx.tv

VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY (VES) ANNOUNCES NOMINEES

FOR 7th ANNUAL VES AWARDS

Iron Man Leads with 5 Noms

Awards Ceremony Scheduled for February 21, 2009

Los Angeles, January 19, 2009 – The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for the 7th Annual VES Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects in over a dozen categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 17, 2009, by numerous panels of VES members who viewed submissions at the FotoKem screening facilities in Burbank.

In making the announcement, Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Awards Committee said, “Because visual effects continue to grow in complexity and intensity, touching every aspect of the entertainment industry, we are proud to announce the nominees and their work, which have been deemed by the judges as the best of the best. I congratulate all the artists on their achievements.”

The nominees for the 7th Annual VES Awards are the following:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA – PRINCE CASPIAN
Wendy Rogers, Dean Wright, Andrew Fowler, Greg Butler

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Eric Barba, Edson Williams, Nathan McGuinness, Lisa Beroud

HELLBOY II THE GOLDEN ARMY
Michael J. Wassel, Lucy Killick, Adrian de Wet, Eamonn Butler

CLOVERFIELD
Kevin Blank, Chantal Feghali, Michael Ellis, Eric Leven

IRON MAN
Ben Snow, Hal Hickel, Victoria Alonso, John Nelson

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture

CHANGELING
Michael Owens, Geoffrey Hancock, Jinnie Pak, Dennis Hoffman

EAGLE EYE
Jim Rygiel, Jim Berney, Crys Forsyth-Smith, David Smith

VALKYRIE
Richard R. Hoover, Maricel Pagulayan, Peter Nofz, Daniel Eaton

NIM’S ISLAND
Camille Cellucci, Scott Gordon, Fred Pienkos, James Straus

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK
Mark Russell, Richard Friedlander, Eric Robertson, Brett Miller

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Motion Picture

BOLT – The Chase
Chris Williams, Byron Howard, John Murrah, Doug Bennett

KUNG FU PANDA – Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting – The Animation of Kung Fu Panda
Markus Manninen, Dan Wagner, Alex Parkinson, Raymond Zibach

WALTZ WITH BASHIR
Yoni Goodman, Yael Nahlieli

ROADSIDE ROMEO
Pankaj Khandpur, Sherry Bharda, Shrirang Sathaye, Suhael Merchant

WALL-E
Andrew Stanton, Jim Morris, Lindsey Collins, Nigel Hardwidge

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special

DOCTOR WHO – THE NEXT DOCTOR – Cyber King
Dave Houghton, Marie Jones, Matt McKinney, Murray Barber

GENERATION KILL – Episode 2
Adam McInnes, Anthony Bluff, Stephane Paris, David Sewell

JOHN ADAMS – Join or Die
Steve Kullback, Erik Henry, Robert Stromberg, Jeff Goldman

KNIGHT RIDER – Prometheus
Sam Nicholson, Scott Ramsey, Chris Martin, Mike Enriquez

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON FOUR – BSG Space Battle
Gary Hutzel, Michael Gibson, Doug Drexler, Kyle Toucher

SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES – Episode 108
James Lima, Raoul Bolognini, Andrew Orloff, Steve Meyer

GHOST WHISPERER – Ghost in the Machine
Armen Kevorkian, Arthur J. Codron, Matt Scharf, Stefan Brederock

HEROES – The Second Coming
Eric Grenaudier, Mark Spatny, Diego Galtieri, Michael Cook

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program

FRINGE – Episode 101 – Pilot
Kevin Blank, Jay Worth, Andrew Orloff, Barbara Genicoff

JERICHO – Episode 7 – Patriots and Tyrants
Andrew Orloff, Blyth Dalton, Chris Jones, MIchael Cliett

LIFE – Frozen Solid
Max Ivins, Jenny Foster, Danny Kim, Shawn Lipowski

PUSHING DAISIES – The Legend of Merle McQuoddy
William Powloski, Elizabeth Castro, Melanie Tucker, Eric Chauvin

Best Single Visual Effect of the Year

CLOVERFIELD – Statue of Liberty Crash and Woolworth Tower Collapse
Michael Ellis, Chantal Feghali, David Vickery, Ben Taylor

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Benjamin’s Secret
Eric Barba, Lisa Beroud, Steve Preeg, Jonathan Litt

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL – Newborn Klaatu
Jeffrey A. Okun, R. Christopher White, Thomas M. Boland, Ben Thompson

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL – Valley Destruction
Stephanie Hornish, Pablo Helman, Jeff White, Craig Hammack

IRON MAN
Ben Snow, Wayne Billheimer, Victoria Alonso, John Nelson

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

BACARDI – Sundance
Alex Thiesen, Nikos Kalaitzidis, Jay Barton, Zsolt Kalaitzidis

COKE – It’s Mine
Angus Kneale, Asher Edwards, Ben Smith, Dan Williams

FEDEX ‘PIGEON’
Satoko Iinuma, Murray Butler, David Hulin, Spencer Lueders

MONSTER ‘STORK’ – Stork
William Bartlett, Helen Stanley, Dan Seddon, David Mellor

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

GRAND CANYON ADVENTURE – RIVER AT RISK – Main Title Sequence
Mark Freund, Alan Markowitz, Lee Nelson, Josh Mossotti

U2 3D – Selected Shots
Peter Anderson, Jon Shapiro, David Franks, Jeremy Nicolaides

Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game

CRYSIS WARHEAD
Zoltan Pocza, Gabor Mogyorosi, Tamas Schlagl

DEAD SPACE
Ian Milham, Ben Wanat, Christopher Stone

NEED FOR SPEED UNDERCOVER – Xbox 360
Henry LaBounta, Steve Barcia, Dave Taylor, Carl Jarrett

Outstanding Pre-Rendered Visuals in a Video Game

COMMAND AND CONQUER – RED ALERT 3 – Chrono-Lab, Empire and Allied Scenes
Richard Taylor, Benjamin Hopkins, KaTai Tang, Mical Pedriana

NEED FOR SPEED UNDERCOVER – Cinematics
Henry LaBounta, Steve Barcia, Dave Taylor, Mark Raham

WORLD OF WARCRAFT- WRATH OF THE LICH KING – Intro Cinematic
Jeff Chamberlain, Phillip Hillenbrand

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Benjamin Button
Steve Preeg, Matthias Wittmann, Tom St. Amand, David McLean

HELLBOY II THE GOLDEN ARMY – Elemental Sequence
Colin McEvoy, Christoph Ammann

IRON MAN
Hal Hickel, Bruce Holcomb, James Tooley, John Walker

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES – Hogsqueal
Todd Labonte, Michael Brunet, Nathan Fredenburg, Aharon Bourland

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture

BOLT – Various Sequences – Bolt
Becky Bresee, Bob Davies, Renato Dos Anjos, Wayne Unten Jr.

BOLT – Various Sequences – Rhino
Adam Dykstra, Dave Gottlieb, Clay Kaytis, Hyrum Osmond

KUNG FU PANDA – This Kung Fu Stuff is Hard Work – The Animation of Po
Jack Black, Dan Wagner, Nico Marlet, Peter Farson

WALL-E – WALL-E and Eve Truck Sequence
Ben Burtt, Victor Navone, Austin Lee, Jay Shuster

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial

BACARDI – Sundance
James Atkinson, John Cooper, Phillip Prahl, Charles Felix Chabert

BRAINS DANCE
James Sindle, Jesus Parra, Josh Fourtwells

COKE – Stewie
Ben Smith, Andrew Proctor, Jong Jim Choi, Keith Kim

WHO’S GONNA SAVE MY SOUL
Thomas Tannenberger, Olcun Tan

Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

BOLT – Various Sequences
John Murrah, Michael Kaschalk, Dale Mayeda, Adolph Lusinsky

KUNG FU PANDA – The Secret Ingredient – Visual Effects of Kung Fu Panda
Markus Manninen, Alex Parkinson, Amaury Aubel, Lawrence Lee

MADAGASCAR ESCAPE 2 AFRICA – Effects in Africa
Scott Peterson, Laurent Kermel, Andrew Wheeler, Greg Gladstone

WALL-E – Effects in WALL-E
Jason Johnston, Keith Daniel Klohn, Enrique Vila, Bill Watral

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture

CHANGELING – 1928 Downtown L.A.
Romain Bayle, Abel Milanes, Allan Lee, Debor Dunphy

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
Richard Bluff, Barry Williams, Yanick Dusseault, Yusei Uesugi

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK – Matte Paintings
Brett Miller, Garrett Eaton, Matthew Conner

SPEED RACER – Overall Matte Painting Presentation
Lubo Hristov, Dennis Martin, Ron Crabb

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

DOCTOR WHO – SERIES 4 – Silence in the Library
Simon Wickers, Charlie Bennett, Tim Barter, Arianna Lago

GENERATION KILL – Episode 2
Christian Irles, Yannick Bourgie

MERLIN THE MARK OF NIMUEH SERIES 1 – The Mark of Nimueh
Dave Early, Simon Wickers, Bryan Bartlett, Sara Bennet

Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture

THE DARK KNIGHT – Garbage Truck Crash Models and Miniatures
Ian Hunter, Forest Fischer, Scott Beverly, Adam Gelbart

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
David Fogler, Craig Hammack, Brian Gernand, Geoff Heron

IRON MAN – Suit Up Machine
Aaron McBride, Russell Paul, Gerald Gutschmidt, Keiji Yamaguchi

MY DARLING OF THE MOUNTAINS – Hot Springs
Taro Kiba, Kenji Nagatani, Yuki Minagawa, Hideo Udo

Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

NEW BALANCE – Anthem
Ian Hunter, Jon Warren, Matt Burlingame, Raymond Moore

GHOST WHISPERER – Episode 404 – ‘Claridon Ship Shots’
Eric Hance

Outstanding Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture

CLOVERFIELD – Brooklyn Bridge Sequence
David Vickery, Phil Johnson, Victor Wade, Sean Stranks

THE DARK KNIGHT – IMAX Gotham City Scapes
Peter Bebb, David Vickery, Philippe Leprince, Andrew Lockley

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL – Temple Heart
Michael Halsted, David Fogler, Steve Walton, David Weitzberg

THE MUMMY – TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR – Avalanche Sequence
Mike Meaker, Rich Mahon, Jason Iverson, Sho Hasegawa

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK – Created Environment
Brett Miller, Garrett Eaton, Matthew Conner

Outstanding Created Environment in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

AUDI – LIVING ROOM – Living Room
Jack Zaloga, Jake Montgomery, Andy Boyd, Sean Durnan

HEROES – Tokyo
Meliza Fermin, Michael Cook, Daniel Kumiega, Anthony Ocampo

JOHN ADAMS – Join or Die – Episode 1 – The Boston Harbor
Paul Graff, Robert Stromberg, Adam Watkins

WRIGLEY’S 5 – Fruit Shredder
Ludo Fealy, Dean Robinson, Adam Leary, Michael Gregory

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, PRINCE CASPIAN
Stuart Lashley, Arundi Asregadoo, Mark Curtis, Richard Baker

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Benjamin Comes Together
Janelle Croshaw, Paul Lambert, Sonja Burchard, Sarahjane Javelo

IRON MAN – Head Under Display – HUD Compositing
Jonathan Rothbart, Dav Rauch, Kyle McCulloch, Kent Seki

QUANTUM OF SOLACE – Sienna Chase and Fight Sequence
Anthony Smith, Christian Kaestner, Adrian Metzelaar, Jon Thum

Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

COKE – It’s Mine – ‘Balloons’
Angus Kneale, Dan Williams, Andrew Proctor

FEDEX ‘PIGEON’ – Pigeon
Andy Walker, Spencer Lueders, Maryanne Butler, Murray Butler

JOHN ADAMS – Join or Die – Episode 1 – The Boston Harbor
Paul Graff, Joshua LaCross, Matt Collorafice

TIME SCULPTURE
Richard de Carteret, Paul Downes, Oliver Dadswell, John Price

Outstanding Special Effects in a Motion Picture

DEFIANCE – Special Effects
Neil Corbould, Steve Warner, Anne Maria Walters, Alan Young

THE DARK KNIGHT – Overall
Chris Corbould, Peter Notley, Ian Lowe

Outstanding Effects in a Student Project

HANGAR NUMBER FIVE – Robot Attack
Nathan Matsuda

LA MAIN DES MAITRES – Revolution
Adrien CaYuS Toupet, Clement Delatre, Vivien Looky Chauvet

OUR WONDERFUL NATURE
Tomer Eshed, Dennis Rettkowski, Tomer Eshed, Dennis Rettkowski

PLASTIC – Transformation Sequence
Sandy Widyanata, Courtney Wise

The 7th Annual VES Awards will take place on Feb. 21, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, CA.

This year the VES will present producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award and Phil Tippett with the Georges Méliès Award.

For more information on the VES Awards, sponsorship and tickets, please visit www.visualeffectssociety.com.

About the VES

The VES is a professional, honorary society, dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of visual effects and to upholding the highest uniform standards and procedures for the visual effects profession. The VES is the entertainment industry’s only official trade organization representing the extended community of visual effects practitioners including supervisors, artists, producers, technology developers, educators and studio executives.

Its 1,800 global members contribute to all areas of entertainment from film, animation, television and commercials to music videos, games and new media. VES strives to enrich and educate its members and the entertainment community at large through many domestic and international events, screenings and programs. Visual effects professionals constitute a vital creative force in content creation and are literally shaping the future of entertainment.

The close-up framing and beautifully simplified actions also served to save money and time, an important consideration on a deadline-intensive project. HUSH had only six weeks to take the entire campaign from concept to completion. To ensure its fluid execution, the team took control of every aspect of the production, from live action to editorial and VFX to finishing.

For example, rather than recreating an entire sporting event or concert, HUSH put the spotlight on one or two characters, creating an abstract action scene that retained the intensity and power of an athlete or musician operating at full throttle. By corralling all of its creative resources, HUSH’s team was able to use its experience producing TV content to adapt a successful print campaign that Momentum Worldwide had already established.

About Hush:
HUSH is a New York-based content creation studio led by Co-Founders/Creative Directors Erik Karasyk, David Schwarz and Executive Producer Casey Steele. HUSH develops powerful brand-driven stories, award-winning design, animation, and interactive content for TV commercials, music videos, broadcast, and integrated campaigns. With over a decade of ideation and execution experience, HUSH pushes creative limits to build brand awareness and audience loyalty.

The Creds:

Client: American Express
Content Title(s): Rocker, Hockey, Hair, Diva, Basketball, Ticker
Launch Date: December 2008

Agency: Momentum Worldwide/NY
Creative(s): Benjamin Bailey, George Tannenbaum
Agency Producer: Karen Song

Production Company: HUSH/NY
Directors: David Schwarz, Erik Karasyk
DP: Zak Mulligan
EP: Casey Steele

Design Co: HUSH/NY
Lead 2D/3D Animation: Navid Bagherzadeh
3D Animators: TK Tanaponn / Brian Cobonpue
Designers: Fred Kim, David Schwarz
Live Action Producers: Submissive Films, Mario Romeo, Kenneth Greenblatt
Producer: Mei-Ling Wong

Editorial Co: HUSH/NY
Editor: Amilcar Gomes

Sound Design: Antfood
Composers: Wilson Brown / Polly Hall
Executive Producer: Sean McGovern

(article by CGNews)