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October 2010

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postings A DREAM DOC L ONDON— Sequence Post (www.sequence-post.co.uk) worked with IMG Sports Media and sports producer Ben Simister on a 72-minute feature documentary that focuses on the 2010 Indian Premier League (IPL) Cricket Tour across India. Dare to Dreamcovers the highlights and some of the most recogniz- able moments of one of the largest sporting leagues in the world. Simis- ter directed the film, which was edited by Ben Foakes, Mike Fisher and Joe Rigby. The piece was shot and posted in HD. Sequence would receive HDV footage and EVS ProRes footage on a hard drive from India. The 4TBs of footage was loaded onto the studio’s XSAN and edited in full native HD using Apple’s Final Cut Studio. PIGS & WOODCHUCKS N MULTI MINI’S C EW YORK — Click 3X (www.click3x.com) enhanced animatronic animal puppets featured in two recent comedic Geico insurance commercials. In Piggy, the Geico spokesman ponders if spending 15 minutes on the phone can really save 15 percent on car insurance? “Did the little piggy cry wee, wee, wee all the way home?” he asks. In the Woodchucks spot, the same question is answered with: “Do woodchucks really chuck wood?” The spots were conceived by The Martin Agency and were directed by Frank Todaro. In both cases, the characters needed to be given a bit more personality and appeal. The Click 3X team was lead by CD/Flame artist Mark Szumski, lead Flame artist Evan Schoonmaker and VFX producer Chris Kiser. For Woodchucks, in which the animals throw a farmer’s wood into a pond, Szumski cloned a single woodchuck puppet, color corrected the fur to differentiate the two, and then composited the plates on top of the log cabin background. They also added more life to the wood- chucks’ eyes and created subtle body movements, such as jiggling bel- lies, to make the creatures appear more cuddly, and less callous. For Piggy, the team performed a small VFX shoot to film the pin- wheels the character is holding. They also tweaked the color of his nose and eyes to enhance the cuteness factor. In all, the job took just under a month to complete. Moxie Pictures produced the spots and MacKenzie Cutler’s Ian MacKenzie edited the project. CASH CABIN SIN CITY N ULVER CITY, CA — Production company Smuggler, in Hollywood, called on Sway Studio (www.swaystudio.com) to complete a VFX-driven spot that unveils the new 2011 Mini Cooper Countryman. Flowshows off the versa- tility of the new four-door model, which can be configured with optional four-wheel drive. The spot was conceived by BSUR Amster- dam, and called for Sway to create hundreds of photoreal Countryman vehicles that race through various Italian vistas and landmarks. The cars split into clones as they race through the narrow streets, and merge back together at different points. Brian Beletic directed Flowand Aaron Pow- ell was VFX supervisor. All but three of the 317 vehicles in the spot are CG. Sway used CAD data supplied by Mini, along with reference photos to match the hero vehicle from the live- action shoot. For animation of all the driving sequences, Sway used its own Drive-a-Tron software. The Sway animation pipeline made use of Autodesk 3DS Max; V-Ray for render- ing; Nuke and Flame for compositing; PTGui for HDRI reflection and lighting; and a variety of packages for tracking, including Sway’s propri- etary software, Nuke, and PFTrack. Adam Pertofsky of Rock, Paper, Scissors cut the :60 and a :30 version. Neil Meiklejohn as- sisted. Music was provided by The Rumor Mill; Brian Emrich handled sound design. Smuggler and Sway also created The Last Spot, a sec- ond VFX-driven commercial for the campaign. EW YORK— For its sixth season, the popular game show Cash Cabis expanding its coverage with spe- cial episodes set on the Las Vegas strip. Mechanism Digital (www.mechanismdigital.com), here, shot new footage in Las Vegas and redesigned the show’s opening title sequence and graphics package for Lion Television, the production company behind the Discovery show. The show is based around a NYC taxi that picks up passengers and awards them cash prizes for answering trivia questions correctly. Three wrong answers, however, and passengers get kicked to the curb. DP Jonathan Furmanski used a Canon 5D Mark II camera to capture high-res stills and HD footage of the displaced New York City cab in Las Vegas. During the overnight shoot, Furmanski and crew mounted cameras to both the taxi door and its hood using a pair of Manfrotto 3D heads attached to Wood’s Powr-Grips. Furmanski kept in close contact with Mechanism producers, capturing exactly what the designers required and enabling the team to transition seamlessly into post back at the Chelsea studio. There, CD Nate Mulliken designed and composited elements that tie footage together in choreographed graphic panels and subtle vi- sual effects. Using Adobe After Effects CS4, Mulliken combined Vegas-inspired imagery with the glitzy photog- raphy. The most challenging part was maintaining the Cash Cabbrand while adding a new flare. 50 Post • October 2010 www.postmagazine.com

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