Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/102700
VFX For Commercials and Ratatouille, she notes. "It's very characterheavy animation. We cast for the live action, with people talking to the camera, and then we designed each character based on who we chose in the casting." QuietMan had between six and eight weeks to complete both commercials, and that was while a half dozen other projects were in-house simultaneously. Gattyan estimates that as many as eight to 10 staffers contributed to the commercials. "When a job like that comes in, with that kind of turnaround, we staff it accordingly," she explains. "We have 15 staff people, and we build it up when we need to. The graphic design department was very involved because we also did the print campaign. All of our 2D designers were helping with styl- Shed specializes in character animation. For Pert Plus, the studio put animal heads on the bodies of humans. 32 troubleshooting, as well as achieving the highest production value. In addition to Emergen-C, QuietMan worked on projects for Charles Schwabb, Post Fruity Pebbles, Amex and Xbox in the past year. They also contributed to a Wounded Warrior PSA. "We had an amazing year," says Gattyan. "We did a lot of rebuilding in the last few years and reinventing ourselves because of how the economy has been going and what clients' needs are. Clients are looking for higher production value. I think for a few years, we lost that. The budgets were so low that people were taking shortcuts. People are back to higher production value and quality work, which is what we're about. We've been growing steadily for the last few put CG heads onto live-action footage — we replaced the head of the actor, one with a dog's head and one with a donkey's," says Pinard. In Pert Plus's Confession, a young man with the head of a donkey is in a church confessional, talking to a priest about his recent wrongdoings. He says he asked his neighbor's wife if the was pregnant? She wasn't! The priest reassures him that his actions weren't a sin, but that the condition of his hair is. The spot cuts to footage of the man in the shower, his normal head back on his body. The spot closes with a bit of humor — the man adding, "She sure looked pregnant!" In another spot, a young couple is about to get married. The groom, however, has the head of a mangy dog. While the bride izing the clothes." Live action was shot by QuietMan's Quiet Content division, which launched as a fullblown production company about a year ago with the purpose of assisting VFX-driven projects. They are located in the same building on West 29th Street. The Nate and Nora characters were shot greenscreen and placed in a photoreal kitchen environment that was a combination of a digital matte painting and CG elements. The animated characters were created using Maya. Illustrator and After Effects were also used. The final composite was performed by QuietMan principal/ executive creative director/lead ar tist Semerad using Autodesk Inferno. QuietMan is home to four Inferno suites, which can be used for final compositing. According to Gattyan, the production arm helps reassure clients that the challenges of their VFX-driven spots are being addressed early on, as well as through post. It also presents Semerad and the facility's other directors with creative opportunities, where they can get behind the camera and assist in years and foresee 2013 being even better." doesn't seem to mind, the guests are dismayed. The best man tells him to get his act together by using Pert Plus. The spot closes with the tag, "Don't be an animal." Pinard says Shed offers clients the feeling of a boutique shop, where they can come in and brainstorm directly with the studio's artists. "When the clients come here, they are really working with the ar tists and not giving information to administrative people to pass on to the ar tists. That way we can have nice creative input." The studio will also work directly with agencies on projects. "There is no production company with their director," he explains. "The creative people from the agency work with us. It's a nice association. We have story artists here that can do all the boards and concepts of the characters and environment. I think clients like that approach and appreciate it." At press time, Shed was working on a fully-CG commercial campaign for IGA supermarkets, as well as on a campaign for a Montreal casino that mixes visual effects into live action. Post•January2013 Post0113_028-20,32-VFXRAV3FINALREAD.indd 32 SHED Montreal's Shed (www.shedmtl.com) specializes in visual effects for commercials, par ticularly those making use of character animation. The boutique is home to 30 ar tists whose skill sets range from character modeling, animation and 3D to lighting and rendering. The animation team calls on Softimage and the studio's own rendering solution. Finishing is performed using Smoke and Flame. Lustre is also used for lighting, color treatment and finishing. Visual effects compositing is performed using Nuke, though the studio's motion graphics artists mainly use After Effects. While much of Shed's work comes from local agencies in Montreal, 3D project manager Yvan Pinard notes the studio has worked with clients as far away as India. Recently, though, work came from closer to home — client Brut Per t is from the United States. For the Per t Plus shampoo spots, "We www.postmagazine.com 12/21/12 2:38 PM