LOBO Announces Live-Action Division and Roster of Directors
May 9, 2024
Trollbäck + Company: “We Mean Business”
Mr. Trollbäck and crew untangle the complexities of carbon pricing for We Mean Business, a coalition of companies dedicated to promoting a low-carbon economy. The video, which employs a “minimal graphic language system built on color and iconography” screened before Apple CEO Tim Cook’s presentation at Climate Week in NYC yesterday. [Watch]
Mill+: The Fableists “Epic Thread”
This vibrant and frenetic animated short from Mill+ thru Brothers and Sisters agency gently reveals the good-for-all corporate values of children’s eco-fashion brand The Fableists. Narrated by UK comedy goddess Jennifer Saunders
Mill+ animation director Ivo Sous: “We gathered as much inspirational material as possible. This was followed by a real hands on approach creating character designs, mood boards, style frames, storyboards and animatics.
“Style frames were drawn up in Photoshop, the character animation was drawn frame by frame in Flash, with other elements being completed in Cinema 4D before the whole piece was composited together in AFX and Premiere.” [Watch]
Lumbre: Fox Sports “Beauty in Strength”
Buenos Aires motion studio Lumbre just finished their first project for FOX Sports USA: This hardcore launch spot and toolkit for the 20th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” featuring 16 female fighters all shot on location in Vegas. [Watch]
The Mill Moves Tom Bussell Up to CD in New York
Tom Bussell, who joined The Mill in 2003 as a 3D artist, trades in his position as head of 3D in London for the role of CD at the company’s New York office. [Watch]
Smith & Foulkes: “It’s Payback Time, Cancer”
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]
Asif Mian and 1stAveMachine “Gillette Piano”
The razor wars between Schick and Gillette have produced some ridiculous ad moments and depending on your level of cynicism this spot may be another one, but I prefer to see 1stAveMachine‘s new product demo for the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Razor with FlexBall Technology (ok, the name is ridiculous) as a step in the right direction away from hewn jaws and jet planes.
Beautifully shot, minimal in execution and featuring New York composer Son Lux, the 83-second clip produced for Grey New York is a small part of the $200 million Gillette is spending to market the razor launched earlier this year. [Watch]
