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

George was raised in primarily New York city and currently reside there now. He has shot a multitude of commercials, music videos, promotional and corporate videos for some top leading clients. George’s experience with shooting and editing 4K, 2K, HD, and SD is quite useful when meeting the needs of his clients. He has been working as a DP and editor now for over 7 years.

Some of his clients include: Dunkin Donuts, Big Apple Visual Group, St. Johns University, Time Warner, Comcast, Diaspora and Dolphin Fitness, Pharoahe Monch, Centry (Magic Man), Power 105.1′s DJ Chuck The Tripple Threat, Wyclef Jean, Jerry Wonda (Fugees), Milk Dee, Smoke Records, Legend Records.

Related Information:

Contact George Steuber online at www.GSteuber.com, Cell: 718.772.7231 or Email: info@gsteuber.com

With a triple-punch combo of shows to develop creative for, NYC based boutique Broquard Studio needed to bring all of it’s expertise in 2D/3D design, animation and compositing to the project.

“The HBO Sports brand and the boxing packages in particular are the ultimate sports package to work on from a design and motion graphics perspective. It was important to deliver something that had an event-night feel. Incorporating rich finishes and slick glossed surfaces, while also maintaining the energy and vigor that comes from primetime fights was the focus.”
Jacques Broquard, Director of Broquard Studio.

About Broquard Studio:
Broquard Studio is a motion graphics, design, animation and visual effects boutique for entertainment and advertising. For information on Broquard Studio visit: www.broquardstudio.com.

About Digital Kitchen:
Digital Kitchen is a creative agency that focuses on film production, experiential design, motion graphics, brand identity, and interactive work for marketing and entertainment. For more information on Digital Kitchen visit: www.d-kitchen.com

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 eye-catching :30s feature B&W still photographs of the New York skyline, bridges, streets and landmarks, vividly contrasting the brightly attired foreground models. Crossroads director Glenn Lazzaro sought to showcase America’s fashion capital, where the show is set, by mixing architectural photography and live-action in a stylized, arresting way.

“By blurring the boundaries between still images and live action, we tried to bring fashion magazine portraiture to life,” said Lazzaro. “That allowed us to reflect the show’s sexy, spontaneous spirit while capturing Manhattan’s rough, iconic beauty.”

“Is there a cooler network for hip pop culture?” added Crossroads executive producer Dean Winkler. “We don’t think so, and we’re delighted to have the privilege of helping them promote their brand.”

Crossroads has produced dozens of Bravo campaigns over the past four years, including promos for Top Chef and Shear Genius.

“One of the things we love about working with Glenn and Crossroads is how collaborative they are,” said Amy Troiano, Bravo’s VP/on-air promotion. “They always know how to make any idea look gorgeous, and we’re thrilled at how the footage for Make Me a Supermodel jumps off the screen.”

The second season of Make Me a Supermodel debuts Wednesday, March 4, at 10 p.m. EST on Bravo.

About Crossroads Branding + Promotion:
Crossroads is a creative services agency that delivers award-winning branding and promotion for broadcast and entertainment clients. It has recently produced shiny new campaigns for Bravo, CBS, ESPN, Lifetime, HGTV, ABC, and other fine networks.

With its sister company Headlight, a creative design studio, Crossroads offers full-service brand solutions. Both are divisions of Crossroads Films, a multimedia company with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London.

The Creds:
Client: Bravo
Spot Title: Make Me A Supermodel Promos
Air Date: February 2009

Agency: Bravo On-Air Promotion
VP Brand Strategy/CD: Trez Thomas
VP: Amy Troiano
CD: Justin Reichman
Graphics Designer: Fran Chamberlain
Senior Writer/Editor/Producer: Craig Shannon

Prod Company: Crossroads Branding + Promotion
Director: Glenn Lazzaro
EP: Dean Winkler
DP: Pierre Rouger

Art Director: Richard Piekos
Post Production Supervisor: Brett Karley
Producer: Bettina Schneider
Production Manager: Logan Luchsinger

Shoot Location: Silvercup Studios, NYC

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

Rachel Getting Married, released in late 2008, was shot documentary-style to convey the tension and uncomfortable nature of complex interpersonal relationships, heightened by the abnormal interactions that only a wedding weekend can provide. Both the film and Anne Hathaway’s role have received great critical acclaim. For the project, Click collaborated once again with director Jonathan Demme, expanding on the working relationship first established with Demme’s unconventional feature documentary on Jimmy Carter titled, Man From Plains. In developing the titles, the design team carefully infused Demme’s directorial vision to capture and subtly convey the palpable friction of a flawed family, as well unveiling the raw feelings and conflict that weddings can incite.

It Might Get Loud is a rousing documentary on the electric guitar told from the point of view of three highly-influential rock musicians: Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. The titling sequence, a series of slow, sensual beauty shots of a collection of guitars, has a practical look that complements the rich history of the electric guitar. Titles gradually appear near the neck and body of the instruments, until finally revealing the names of the three iconic players, branded on the guitars like logos, each with a look that parallels the guitars they used.

With this distinct typography, the Click designers help position each guitarists’ legacy as an evocative, widely-recognized brand, complete with millions of loyal fans and a dynamic rock history-all epitomized in lines, angles, colors and shadows of their personal logo. The company worked closely with Director Davis Guggenheim of Inconvenient Truth, using his creative insight and the film’s historical footage, interviews, and theme as inspiration. In addition to the title sequence, Click 3X designed the film poster and developed the look and feel of the materials that launched the film at Toronto Film Fest.

About Click 3X:
New York-based Click 3X produces cutting-edge visual solutions for commercials, feature films, television, music videos and broadcast clients around the globe. Founded in 1993, Click 3X has become the preeminent digital studio led by artists, yet supported by one of the most technologically advanced studios in the industry. With award-winning design, powerful visual effects, and a visionary animation team, Click 3X has worked on such diverse projects as Jonathan Demme’s unconventional feature documentary on Jimmy Carter entitled, Man From Plains; Animal Collective’s Peacebone video directed by Tim Saccenti; and Time Warner’s video instillation, Home Of The Future which was showcased on the Time Warner building in NYC.

(article by CGnews)

A stunning graphical transformation ensues as the eggnog carton falls to the ground and the party morphs into a cranberry-colored world of pumped-up dancers gyrating beneath a shiny disco ball and rising carbonate bubbles. Bottles of Sierra Mist occupy the epicenter of the regenerated party, delivering a clear message: move over eggnog, there’s a new party drink this season.

SUSPECT created this animated sequence out of nothing more than a print ad, which the agency asked them to transform into a story. The studio has been aggressively recruiting new talent in order to establish themselves as a go-to studio for innovative graphical projects, and they saw the Sierra Mist spot as a terrific challenge to test out their newly assembled team.

The Credits:
Client: PepsiCo.
Spot Title: Sierra Mist Cranberry New Tradition
Airdate: November 2008

Agency: TracyLocke
Creative Director: Sanford Stein
Associate Creative Director(s): Tara White, Frank Izzo
Director of Broadcast Production: Monica Victor
Senior Broadcast Producer: Jean Kelly
Associate Broadcast Producer: Kiri Carch
Group Account Director: Stephen Miller
Account Supervisor: James Ryan
Assistant Account Executive: Sandy Ramos

Design/Production/Post: SUSPECT
Director: SUSPECT
Creative Director(s): Hoon Chong, Tim Crean
VFX Supervisor: Keith McCabe
Executive Producer: Robert Appelblatt
Producer: Stefanie Bassett
3D/2D Animator/Compositor: Jean Marco Ruesta
Lead 3D Animator: Steve Burger
3D Character Animator: Carlos Sandoval
3D Animator: Andrew Cohen
3D Lighting: David Bernkopf
Animator: Frank Lee
Talent: Candice Jean-Jacques, Isaac Teel

Audio House: Audio Engine
Enginee: Tom Goldblatt
Enginee Assistant: David Wolfe

About SUSPECT:
NY-based Conceptual Design, Animation and Visual Effects studio, SUSPECT was co-founded in 2003 by CD/VFX Artist Tim Crean and Executive Producer Rob Appelblatt, and is a collective of designers, animators, 3D and VFX artists. SUSPECT has recently worked on major campaigns for PUMA, Fathead, Eucerin, Reebok, FedEx, MTV, L’Oreal, AT&T, Motorola, Miller Lite, Samsung, Visa, Sierra Mist and Christina Aguilera Fragrances. The studio has collaborated with leading agencies, including BBDO, Wieden+Kennedy, Y&R, McCann-Erickson, mcgarrybowen and SelectNY.sensibilities across a variety of mediums including: print, broadcast, TV, commercials, short films, music videos and interactive content.

(article by CGnews)