Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/773214
www.postmagazine.com 30 POST JANUARY 2017 VFX FOR SPOTS CALABASH — STARKIST TUNA Calabash is a Chicago-based animation production studio known for its award-winning animation for the advertising and entertainment industries for TV, the Web and the big screen. While the Calabash creative team, headed up by creative director Wayne Brejcha and executive producer Sean Henry, is known for producing several acclaimed short films, including Stubble Trouble, which was nominat- ed for an Academy Award in 2002, it is best known for the character animation and development of some of America's most beloved and recognized brand icons, including the Trix Rabbit, Lucky the Leprechaun, Sonny the Cocoa Puffs Cuckoo, the Hamburger Helper hand, the Green Giant, Mr. Clean, Little Caesar, the Keebler Elves and Charlie Tuna. Here, Brejcha and director Steve "Spaz" Williams discuss the making of the most recent "Charlie Tuna" spots for Starkist, featuring Fuller House and The View star Candace Cameron Brue that promote the delicious and healthy "smart choice" tuna and salmon Creation Pouch options. According to Brejcha, who worked alongside Williams and production company Phasmatrope Studios, his team was tasked with putting a "re- ally great Charlie Tuna believably into the same space with Candace, appear to be lit by the same light in the practical scene, and be his recogniz- ably charming self, as he presents photorealistic Starkist packs for Candace to take from his nim- ble little fins." Charlie rides on an oversized fish hook, which descends from above, and the team needed to design a hook that Brejcha describes as "theatrical and hospitable." Charlie is also accompanied by little sprites of bubbles that emanate from his move- ments. "We envisioned the bubbles behaving like air bubbles underwater, something like the cascades of bubbles that stream from a diver in a pool, and not like a soap bubble toy gone haywire," says Brejcha. While Brejcha explains that Charlie Tuna spots in the '60s were all hand drawn, "beautifully executed cell animation with painted backgrounds. The first spots Calabash did for StarKist had hand-drawn Charlie in live-action settings," the Calabash team has more recently contributed designs and guide drawings for a 2013 3D Charlie, in partnership with Ben Porcari at IBC. In 2015, Henry created a new model and rig for Charlie. "I think these new spots boast the most cine- matic lighting and camera angles that Charlie's ever been in," says Brejcha. "I'd say it's a new highwater mark for the live action, directed by 'Spaz' Williams, and it's pretty sophisticated interaction as Candace takes the tuna packets from CG Charlie. We were pretty detail-oriented with the lighting as well, using a 360-degree photoscan taken on set to provide the initial lighting for Charlie, which we still had to fuss with a little bit to bring out the best in Charlie." "This Starkist commercial, having involved live action with a composited Charlie, was more of what I was used to from the ILM and directing days," adds Williams. "Shooting live action has a whole new set of rules. Namely, the prep. Exact camera angles have to be pre-established prior to showing up to set. The set has to be as close to the boards as pos- sible, but naturally there are always differences that have to be overcome on the fly. The other aspect is the number of people on set; all having specific jobs. In the case of this last Starkist [spot], I believe we had about 80 to 90 people on set. Being the director, and having to move quickly and attempt to move efficiently, it takes many commercials and years, in my view, to become familiar with all aspects. I personally have found that staying calm, regardless of the problem and magnitude of the job, is one of the most important factors." According to Brejcha, the spots were completed using Maya for CG. For a good bit of the character animation, he says the team brings "animators' play- blasts into Photoshop and makes some sketchovers to guide new positions." — By Linda Romanello GASKET STUDIOS — BEST BUY Gasket Studios (http://gasket.tv) in Minneapolis, MN, offers design, animation and visual effects services for commercial projects, and beyond. The studio's spot work includes jobs for Google, Target, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Blue Cross Blue Shield. They also regularly collaborate with Activision, creating videogame cinematics, intros and out- ros for titles like Snoopy's Grand Adventure! and Ghostbusters. The Ghostbusters work helped to expand their list of services into virtual reality. "There was a piece for Ghostbusters we were able to do with VR," says Gasket owner/creative director Greg Shultz. "The next step for us is watch- ing what people are doing with VR and also invest- ing in VR. We are making apps and games and stuff like that. We are really trying to find our foothold in how we stream it, and visual effects composite in it, and how we create engagement instead of a passive experience." Shultz sees VR as a growth opportunity for the company in the year ahead. "I think you need to know it and talk smartly about it," he says of the for- mat. "We are doing internal pieces to tackle every question. We've done so much augmented reality in the past, it was really a baby step for us to get into VR. We kinda understand that world really well." Shultz points to the company's digital holiday card, which was in development when Post connected with him in mid-December. The internal VR project will allow recipients to interactively build a snowman, take pictures and share them online. "More and more, people want to be able to be a part of a brand and be able to touch a brand and experience a brand, so internally, you will learn what Gasket is by building a snowman," he explains. "That's what I think people want from a brand and/ or don't want. Some people just want to be enter- tained or educated, so if we can work in both of those, that's what we're trying to do." Outside of VR, Gasket recently completed a package of twelve 4K videos for Best Buy that the electronics retailer is using online and in its stores to highlight picture quality as well as inform customers. The studio had just under a month to create the video collection, each of which runs :10 to :15 in length. In one video, for example, simple animated figures demonstrate the right and wrong way to GREG SHULTZ Charlie Tuna's new CG look for Starkist is completed in Maya; Cameron Brue is the new spokeswoman.