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Syndrome & New Balance Are Sweet On Candy

Moo2u — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:33:18 +0000

Los Angeles-based directing collective Syndrome has concocted an irresistible new batch of confectionary goodness in the latest :30 spot for New Balance via Ryan Partnership.

Chosen to help launch the Candy Collection, New Balance’s colorfully cool new brand of footwear for tweens, Syndrome have taken inspiration from old school pinball machines, childhood board games and the tasty sweets we all remember as kids to deliver a surreal sugarcoated ride through an elaborate gumball machine.

With their irresistible ice-bottom soles and mouthwatering colors, the New Balance Candy Collection has style for miles and is guaranteed to satisfy any tween girl’s fashion sweet tooth.

About New Balance:
New Balance, headquartered in Boston, MA has the following mission: Demonstrating responsible leadership, we build global brands that athletes are proud to wear, associates are proud to create and communities are proud to host. New Balance employs more than 4,000 people around the globe, and in 2007 reported worldwide sales of $1.63 billion.
www.newbalance.com

About Syndrome:
LA-based design and directing collective Syndrome are united by a deep-seated, shared love for art and innovation where creativity is the core of their existence. Syndrome has been directing commercials, music videos, and instillations for nearly a decade, and have worked with some of the biggest artists in the industry including: P. Diddy, Kanye West, T-Pain, Erykah Badu, John Legend, 50-Cent, Black Eyed Peas, Ludacris, Lil Wayne, and Chris Brown to name a few. Syndrome has worked with heavyweights such as TBWA/Chiat/Day, Warner Bros, NBC and CBS directing campaigns and creating motion graphics for brands such as Converse featuring Mos Def, Bud Select, NASCAR on Fox and the main title sequence for the feature film ATL. They have been nominated for awards such as MTV VMA’s, UK Music Video Awards, and Music Choice VOD Awards.
www.syndromestudio.com

The Credits:
Client: New Balance
Spot Title: Candy
Air Date: March 2009

Agency: Ryan Partnership
AD: Sheryl Seigel
Agency Producer: Ryan Conover

Prod Company: Syndrome
Director: Syndrome
DP: Syndrome
EP: Monica Blackburn

Post/Effects: Syndrome
EP: Monica Blackburn

Editorial: Syndrome

Sound Designer/Composer: Michael Genato

Syndrome Flies For Dyrdek’s MTV Fantasy Factory

Moo2u — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:53:28 +0000

LA-based directing collective and design/animation group Syndrome just rolled out the show open for Rob Dyrdek’s new MTV show Fantasy Factory. The graphically explosive sequence shows renowned street skater Rob Dyrdek bouncing rapidly through a colorful fantasyland of pipes, ramps, and funnels leading from city streets to twisting pipeworks to the mouth of a lion, among other incredible scenes. Dyrdek’s mascot, Meaty – a mainstay from his original show, Rob and Big – of course accompany him on this rapid-fire montage, joined by new puppy and sidekick Beefy.

To capture this dynamic graphical world, Syndrome shot Dyrdek against a greenscreen and transposed him over the boarded-out scenes. The idea was to create a video that symbolized the free-flowing thoughts in Rob’s head as they materialized in a stylized fashion, capturing his vivid imagination.

“We had a blast with this one!” noted Syndrome’s Executive Producer Monica Blackburn. “Rob and his crew were great to work with. We were really excited to have this opportunity to showcase Syndrome’s ever-evolving capabilities with such a creatively intense crew on a high-profile new show.”

Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory, which launched on MTV on Feb. 8, revolves around a fantasy warehouse in Los Angeles loaded with an incredible skate park, a giant skate ramp launching into a foam pit, a basketball court, Dyrdek’s office loaded with his massive collection of skate decks, and “Corpo,” a corporate office on the second floor that houses his lawyer, toy designer, and executives, among others. Dyrdek will include a whole cast of characters, including an SUV named Stormtrooper, a three-wheeled car named T-Rex that can outrace a Ferrari, and, of course, his dogs Meaty and Beefy.

“Syndrome killed the open,” said Rob Dyrdek. “I wanted something that captured the insanity of what we’re doing with this show and they nailed it. From the live action skating, to the funky graphics – it really sets up the kind of Willy-Wonka fun that we have on the show.”

The Creds:

Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory: Main Title and Show Package Design
Air Date: February 2009
Network: MTV

Concept/Design/VFX: Syndrome
About Robot Films:

Robot Films is a Los Angeles-based creative lab producing music videos, feature and short film, web content, TV and commercials. Lead by veteran Founder/Director Chris Robinson and Executive Producer Amanda Fox, Robot offers a wide range of services, boundless energy, and vast experience . In addition, Robot houses directing collective and design/animation group, Syndrome who are prolific directors and often collaborate on Robot directed jobs. Syndrome is a multi-disciplined trio comprised of Directors/Designers Micah Hancock, James Larese, and Mars Sandoval. Syndrome’s primary focus is merging science with soul, and manipulating technology for the sake of creative growth and artistic expression.

RELATED LINKS
www.robotfilmcompany.com

http://www.syndromestudio.com/about.html

Animated Feature Film 9 – Trailer

Moo2u — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:33:46 +0000

9 is a feature length animated film written and directed by Shane Acker, which re-tells the age old story of good against evil. The film centres on a society of ‘rag-dollesque’ people who live their lives in constant fear of an enemy intent on the destruction of the remains of civilisation. When the main character “9″ (voiced by Elijah Wood) first comes to life he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world where others like him spend their days hiding in fear of a terrifying mechanical beast. 9 emerges as an unlikely leader who convinces his comrades that to survive they must take the offensive and fight.

Quote:

Shane Acker has previously likened the rag-doll characters in his film to the Jawas from Star Wars, almost scavengers of the land that “ take things and sort of keep them inside themselves until there comes a moment which they need them or can use them”.

The storyline sees 9 and his friends using their collected and stored intellect to fight their dangerous enemy, using mind over muscle, the pen over the sword.

Quote:

Acker has explained the philosophy behind the number naming of his main character: “ 9 was about as close as you can get to perfection. You know, let’s say perfection is 10. So I think that we can never achieve that perfection. We’re always flawed – every one of us. And I think 9 represents as close as you can ever possibly get to that perfection.”

9 was adapted from the Academy Award nominated short film by Shane Acker and has been produced by the visionary film makers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. Animation for the film initially began at Attitude Studio in Luxembourg, but was subsequently moved to Starz Animation in Canada. It is due for release release on 9 September 2009.

About Starz Animation:
Starz Animation Toronto, one of Canada’s largest 3D animation studios, specializes in high-end computer-animated motion pictures, DVD’s, TV series, commercials, shorts and visual effects. In 2007, the studio opened its expansive new state-of-the-art 45,000 square-foot facility in downtown Toronto, where more than 200 of the top artists, producers, technical directors, and programmers in contemporary animation work together to craft offerings like 9, the computer-animated Tim Burton film currently in production for Universal’s Focus Features.

Featuring the voices of:
Elijah Wood
Christopher Plummer
Martin Landau
John C. Reilly
Jennifer Connelly
Crispin Glover

Credits:
Directed and Written by: Shane Acker
Produced by: Tim Burton & Timur Bekmambetov
Screen play by: Pamela Pettler
Animation: Starz Animation
Distributed by: Focus Features
Prod Co: Robot Films/LA
Director(s): Syndrome
EP: Amanda Fox

(Article by CGnews)

Robot Films’ Syndrome Thinks Outside the Box for T-Pain

Moo2u — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:03:00 +0000

Every so often a music video comes along that breaks new ground with its creativity, and this trilogy of videos for T-Pain helmed by directing collective Syndrome out of Robot Films is a perfect example of just that. Utilizing vibrant color fluctuations, Syndrome was able to launch these videos into a realm all their own. In Can’t Believe It, the plethora of unique ingredients include miniature apparitions of T-Pain and Lil Wayne and a cyber-roller coaster ride among other things. An ongoing galactic backdrop, with simultaneous circus and carnival themes make the video nearly impossible to classify.

In Chopped and Screwed, T-Pain and fellow hip hop star, Ludacris are portrayed in an animated wonder world with T-Pain depicted as a lion and transforming scenarios. The bold colors and elaborate camera moves transcend us into an extravagant, surreal world.

Freeze features T-Pain’s collabo track with Chris Brown and exhibits fluid motion and contemporary dance moves dipping and weaving in an otherworldly environment. Pulsating digital animation, neon colors and dance offs performed amid dynamic 3D aesthetics are only a few unconventional, yet engaging aspects of this video.

While most hip hop videos are faced with ongoing criticism for redundancy, these efforts show an evolution that feature similar aspects of the usual formula, but explore a variety of new and creative alternatives.

Quote:

“These videos have been an amazing experience for us. T-Pain and Jive gave us their full trust and creative freedom to bring our flavor to their already unique aesthetic. We are grateful for the opportunity and realize how rare that is, especially in today’s market. With that said, it was important for us to establish a cohesive look and feel which played off the album’s cover as this series of videos were specifically designed to be an overall branding campaign for T-Pain.” Syndrome comments on T-Pain project.

Quote:

“Upon shooting Can’t Believe It, it was clear that this was going to be a lot of fun and something special. The vibe and energy clicked very naturally between Pain and ourselves and that energy spilled all over these videos. It’s one thing to have an artist stand in front of a green screen and perform, but when they interact and play off of what the treatment calls for, that interaction takes it to another level by adding the emotion and soul. T-Pain really went hard with his performances and got what we were going for ultimately being the key ingredient to bringing the concepts to fruition.” Syndrome elaborates on T-Pain work.

Quote:

“When we were first kicking around ideas for Can’t Believe It, it was important to all of us that we find a way to reference all the far flung locations in Pain’s lyrics in a fresh and imaginative way. Chartering a 747 for a week long shoot in Aspen, Wisconsin, Costa Rica and Toronto proved not to be cost effective, so we decided that a post-intensive approach was the way to go. From there, it was a no brainer that Syndrome were right for the job. We were all tremendous fans of their work and had been looking forward to an opportunity to work with them. Little did we know the end result would surpass all expectations and blow our collective minds. The way the guys perfectly captured T-Pain’s charisma, humor and imagination, highlighting those qualities and more with their ground breaking visuals, it was clear that they would do all three of the videos we had slated. What we didn’t know was that they would achieve the near impossible by topping their previous effort each time out. I have never gotten so many enthusiastic calls and emails about a series of videos. I can’t wait to see what the guys come up with next. I just hope it’ll be for one of my projects.” Max Nichols, VP of Video Production at Zomba Label Group.

About Robot Films:
Robot Films is a Los Angeles-based creative lab producing music videos, feature and short film, web content, TV and commercials. Lead by veteran Founder/Director Chris Robinson and Executive Producer Amanda Fox, Robot offers a wide range of services, boundless energy, and vast experience . In addition, Robot houses directing collective and design/animation group, Syndrome who are prolific directors and often collaborate on Robot directed jobs. Syndrome is a multi-disciplined trio comprised of Directors/Designers Micah Hancock, James Larese, and Mars Sandoval. Syndrome’s primary focus is merging science with soul, and manipulating technology for the sake of creative growth and artistic expression.

CREDITS
Artist: T-Pain
Song Title(s): Can’t Believe It, Chopped and Screwed, Freeze
Airdate: January 2009

Label: Zomba Label Group

Prod Co: Robot Films/LA
Director(s): Syndrome
EP: Amanda Fox

(article by CGnews)