Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/426326
www.postmagazine.com 33 POST NOVEMBER 2014 as if they were destined for broadcast, Tucker and Jaff e report. "When you're promoting your brand, you want to show it in the best possible light, so the live ac- tion and animation are high quality," Jaff e says. Their toolset included Autodesk Maya, Maxon Cinema 4D, Flash, Adobe After Eff ects and Photoshop. The project showcased the all-in- clusive capabilities of Cutters Studios with Cutters in Chicago handling the color grading during a remote Autodesk Lustre session, with Tucker guiding the grade from LA, Cutters LA editing the spots, and Another Country performing the sound design. "Everyone has been very excited by the campaign," says Tucker. "We were invited to a Colorado Rockies game to see the spots play on the Jumbotron while we were standing on home plate — a once in a lifetime opportunity!" ROYALE — TOYOTA LA-based Royale (www.weareroyale. com) continued its long-standing rela- tionship with Saatchi & Saatchi/LA with a social media campaign of 19 :15 animated spots for Toyota Academy. These spots illustrate the impressive features of var- ious Toyota vehicles, from the body-on- frame construction of 4Runner and the 50mpg economy of Prius, to the eight- seat capacity of Highlander and the rear cross-traffi c alert of Rav4. "Most automakers traditionally show- case features by simply X-raying through the body of the car, but for this cam- paign we took a really creative approach by using humor and a little irreverence to showcase the features in a playful way," says Royale partner and creative director Brien Holman. "I think Toyota Academy has become one of their most successful viral campaigns with millions of hits — and counting — because of the sense of humor it uses." Royale worked closely with the agen- cy to develop a "clean, almost white- board look" where a live-action hand draws black-and-white environments around a color still of the vehicle model. "The idea was not to build a cartoon but a sophisticated illustration, and Saatchi let us fi nd that style," Holman says. "It took a while to fi nd the right balance. This is Toyota — we had to fi nd a sophisticated style that would appeal to Toyota's audience, so we decided on a black-and-white aesthetic with the hu- man touch of the hand interacting with the art of the cars." Some aspects of the style were deter- mined by the assets available — the only key art off ered were stills of the vehicles. "We didn't have access to 3D models," Holman notes. "And no photos of the features were available." Royale shot a hand model sketching blind, not making marks on paper. "We captured him sketching from every angle so we could have some control in post," he explains. Then a team of After Eff ects artists created assets as mattes to layer in and build the animations. "It was really more of a design job than an animation job," says Holman. "Since each spot was only :15, the hardest part was fi guring out how fast the hand had to sketch — which parts should be sketched in and which parts animated in, so in :03 an entire scene could be drawn. We decided to have some elements al- ready there and have the hand augment- ing them as the spots open — erasing, changing, tweaking things so the hand is a device to aid the story, not just draw it on." The playful illustrations include an alien environment for 4Runner's robust construction, a gas station that Prius doesn't need except for the restrooms, a circus act that packs a Highlander and some rather strange suburban traffi c detected by Rav4. Toyota Academy runs on the automak- er's YouTube channel and some spots are formatted as online banners. Royale even tagged one spot for broadcast. "More and more advertisers are shift- ing money to Websites and viral — all the Nike work we do is sitting online," Holman says. "I think that's the way ad- vertising is going to go. You'll see ads in more unexpected places, which is a very cool thing." MINIVEGAS — KLM Amsterdam-based Minivegas (www. minivegas.net) was approached by Ei- genfabrikaat/Amsterdam about creating a live, interactive experience for KLM's big World Deal Weeks ticket promotion, More and more advertisers are SHIFTING MONEY TO WEBSITES AND VIRAL — all the Nike work we do is sitting online." — Holman Royale relied on After Eff ects to create 19 :15 black and white animated spots with a live-action hand for Toyota Academy ADVERTISING & THE INTERNET