Posted on September 5, 2014
Nexus directors Smith & Foulkes brew up two-minutes of apocalyptic fun for a serious cause in this broadcast and cinema spot boosting awareness for Stand Up To Cancer, the partnership between Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK, billed as a ‘killer night of fundraising.’
Smith & Foulkes: “The initial brief was to turn the table on cancer, depicting the disease as a civilization spreading aggressively – unable to prevent its own Armageddon in the style of a disaster movie.
“The main challenge was how to visualize the cancer cells. We wanted to steer away from the obvious route of showing cells as a bunch of grotesque alien germs, but we were also acutely aware of not making them too human or cute.”
“We also had to find a way to illustrate the new therapies, drugs and scientific breakthroughs that are fighting Cancer. We wanted their arrival to be initially magical and mysterious. so we used a glowing blue orb, an unexplained light descending upon a shadowy world.
“Disaster Movies rely heavily on vast visual spectacle and a cast of thousands, so working within our time constraints we decided to recreate this using 2D matt paintings to show a sense of the city without having to model every building.
“This gave it an illustrative and richly textured feel. Modeling and animating our cast in 3D gave us the flexibility of performance we wanted, and made them stand out from their environment.” [Watch]
Posted on September 2, 2014
The Mill‘s post crew help Rogue director Sam Brown highlight homegrown talent from across Africa in this spectacular centerpiece of Guinness’ high-energy assault on the continent.
In development for over a year and part of the global Guinness “Made of More” platform, the two-minute film premiered during a four-hour sponsored takeover of MTV Base. The #madeofblack campaign was conceived by AMVBBDO in London with BBDO offices in Africa. [Watch]
Posted on September 1, 2014
This extended two-minute 3D animated clip for Renault’s diminutive rear-engine Twingo called “Go Anywhere, Go Everywhere” shows off the signature playfulness of the directors, French visual artists Kuntzel+Deygas who you may remember as the talent behind the stand out “Catch Me If You Can” opening title sequence from way back in 2003.
Produced by Kuntzel+Deygas’ Paris prodco called Add a Dog for Publicis Conseil Paris with music by Beck. [Watch]
Posted on August 26, 2014
Patrick Clair and his prolific studio Antibody continue rolling out smart, clean, striking work at a record pace. Check out their four latest projects including the promo for WXD Wired By Design, “a two-day live magazine exploring the intersection of culture and design” presented by Condé Nast: [Watch]
Posted on August 22, 2014
Following up Dvein’s spectacular 3D work on Terminix (here and here) is no easy task but New York commercial prodco Dress Code and the Havas Worldwide Chicago team give it a solid shot with this 2D retro-fun animated treatment anchored by Ron Perlman’s resonant VO. [Watch]
Posted on August 22, 2014
MPC say they channeled Samuel L Jackson, John Travolta, Michael Jackson and Beyoncé to choreograph the moves of a funky 15-foot African bull elephant strutting the streets of Vancouver for Money Supermarket thru Mother.
MPC 3D Supervisor Fabian Frank: “The biggest challenge was creating an elephant that could pull out the moves with the best of them, yet was also believable and true to life. We solved this by ensuring his dance moves stayed within the realms of what a real elephant could do.”
“The second challenge came with integrating the elephant into the shot footage. Matching the interaction between Graeme and the elephant were key, so Graeme was tracked and rotoscoped back into the shots – using select takes to perfectly match the elephants walk cycle.”
Watch the VFX Breakdown and the finished spot below:
Agency: Mother
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Guy Shelmerdine [Watch]
