Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/54443
action test spots is the fact that they serve as "dress rehearsals" for full-up spots, he notes. "We can work out a lot of problems prior to final production, even things you wouldn't think of," such as blocking and shooting cer- tain moves. "We can figure out the dynamics of the spot in a much less expensive environ- ment," Laughlin says. The Spot Farm's turnkey process typically takes about two weeks from receiving the storyboard to finishing the live-action test spot. Edkins, who acts as producer, says the company is adept at problem solving in post, making changes to clothing, hair color and backgrounds as spots evolve and crafting cost-effective VFX and demos. In fact, some of The Spot Farm's 3D prod- uct demos have been extracted from test spots for use in full-up spots; sometimes the company is hired to create demos as part of broadcast commercials, too. With The Spot Farm's live action-based test spots achieving such a high level of qual- ity and finishing it may not be too long before the company's commercials go directly to broadcast. "We feel we're getting close to air," says Edkins. "And we'd love that!" ANIMATIC MEDIA Storyboard artist Scott Ownbey launched Storyboards Online in Los Angeles in 1999, and when it became one of the first to offer a fully-digital approach to animatics not just digital coloring, Animatic Media (www.ani- maticmedia) was born. A few years later Ownbey started exploring 3D for animatics but it was such a new concept "and the ren- der times were insane, especially for revi- sions," so he abandoned the idea for a while. But by 2008 "everything had changed," he recalls. Agency cutbacks and smaller budgets for animatics were coupled with higher expectations than ever. "There was a lot more pressure on test spots," he says, "to make them more realistic, better animated yet cheaper." Today, Animatic Media is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale and has a sales office in London and a production office for 2D ani- matics and storyboards in Manila. Story- boards Online remains in Burbank; both companies come under the umbrella of Interactive Arts Services. Animatic Media offers an array of approaches for test spots, from traditional 2D animatics to 3D cinematics and live action. "Styles are very client-specific," says Ownbey, who notes that New York City agencies tend to be big on 3D while those in the UK also like hand-drawn styles. "You need to offer all the options. If you only have one, you're really limiting yourself." For a loose 2D-style, the company offers the "eight-hour animatic," which combines drawn elements, computerized coloring, editing and Adobe's After Effects or Flash animation. A major computer-maker recently took the traditional approach and requested hand-drawn animatics for a campaign about the future of technology. "It's ironic that the computer spots used traditional techniques while packaged goods advertisers often want state-of-the-art animatics," says Ownbey. For 3D cinematics Animatic Media uses Autodesk Maya and After Effects, and has a library of pre-rigged human models to choose from on its www.previz3D.com Website. The company also has a motion capture system in-house, with two body capture suits for complex moves. Animatic Media's open-plan office and adjacent greenscreen studio facilitate live shoots for test spots; Ownbey also goes on location to shoot, manning Canon EOS 5D and 7D HDSLR cameras. Ownbey notes that, "Clients once had the luxury of visiting the previs vendor's studio and working with the editor, but ever since the great recession they have to juggle four jobs. "We have found that by providing clients the ability to watch streaming video in realtime from our office we can give them the interaction they want while they are at home or in their office. We had one client in London monitor an entire produc- tion, locations. This feature gives the client and agency creatives a front seat to direct from anywhere with an Internet connection." The approach saves time, maximizes effi- ciency and also offers reduced costs for cli- ents, he says. "They were once confined to studios in their geographic area and now have more options to work with new companies." In addition, Animatic Media's offices in four locations "allow a 24/7 production pipeline," he points out. "The end of our day on the East Coast is the beginning of the day in our office in Manila." Animatic Media has had 2D and 3D demo portions of test spots extracted and used in full-up commercials. It also won a competi- tion to create a dynamic 2D-animated broadcast spot for Mountain Dew, which aired as part of the soft drink's Dewmocracy campaign in December 2010. "It was nice to be recognized for our tal- ent with a broadcast spot," says Ownbey. "People were really impressed — they didn't know all we could do. I think we'll be doing more final commercials and corporate work direct for clients." Garage Band and Happy Travels — more examples from Animatic Media approving wardrobe, make-up and scene-by-scene performances from their office and home while we streamed the production from our studio." Animatic Media has also streamed mocap sessions. Ownbey sees live streaming becoming "a commonplace methodolo- gy, especially as bandwidth speeds get faster and faster — you will see not only previs productions com- pleted this way but also full-up broadcast produc- tions with the client and agency monitoring from several different remote www.postmagazine.com Post • February 2012 33