Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/7010
www.postmagazine.com February 2010 • Post 39 P O S T I N G S N EW YORK — Director Spike Lee and his 40 Acres and a Mule production company called on Smoke & Mirrors New York (SMNY) to handle post and VFX work on a postmortem trib- ute to Michael Jackson. The video includes a montage of images spanning the King of Pop's lifetime and is set to the star's 20- year-old track, "This Is It." The project is the latest in a line of music videos for which SMNY has handled VFX. Nick Seresin led the SMNY team (www.smoke-mirrors.com), which used Flame to create seemingly 3D movements. Da Vinci's Resolve, oper- ated by Ben Eagleton, was used for color. The Mill's Damian van der Cruyssen also provided color work. S ANTA MONICA — Design and VFX companies Shade and De Motu, which are part of the Red Magnet collective (www.redmagnetfx.com), teamed up with Red Magnet EP Shira Boardman to create a pair of :30 spots that promote HP's latest innovative products. The spots were conceived by McCann, SF, and directed by Dave Meyers of @radical.media. Patty Cake showcases HP's TouchSmart PC, which allows users to interact with its appli- cations by touching its screen. The spot's soundtrack is based around sampled hand-claps, which underscore the interactive features as well as es- tablish a groove for the picture edit. De Motu, led by Lauren Mayer- Beug with on-set assistance from Shade, handled all post and effects, including a replication sequence that makes it appear as if multiple HP users are working simultaneously in a row. The studio also manufactured screen images that incorporate reflections of the TouchSmart users. According to Mayer-Beug, the previs process inspired Meyers to shoot the talent on individual turntables. The team also worked closely with sound designers at Eleven and the edit crew at Final Cut to chore- ograph the user movements and the flurry of on-screen applications. De Motu used Final Cut Pro for previs and editing/conform, and Adobe CS4 Illustrator and Photoshop to create the screens. After Ef- fects was used for animation and finishing. The Dominoes spot highlight's Shade's ability to create virtual envi- ronments and action. VFX director Bryan Godwin headed the project, and the Shade/De Motu team created a sequence of thousands of col- ored laptops that fall like dominoes. A voiceover touts the advanced ca- pabilities of HP's dv6t laptop. Shade animated in Maya and rendered in V-Ray. Elements were composited in Nuke. A KING'S TRIBUTE HP INNOVATIONS B ALTIMORE — Clean Cuts Music & Sound Design (www.clean- cuts.com) created an original score for a new Washington Area Women's Foundation PSA. The piece was produced by RP3 Agency and serves as a social media campaign that's designed to inspire women to use their professional gifts to help other women. Be That Woman tells the story of one woman's journey from a position of weakness to one of strength. It was illustrated by Sherbert, London using an elegant-yet-simple style. Jim Lansbury, RP3's creative director, called on Clean Cuts to create an original score that would effectively support the ani- mation. The soundtrack was to be void of any voiceover, so the music would need to serve as "the voice," notes Clean Cuts composer Chris Kennedy. The studio used Steinberg's Cubase 4, VST instruments, Pro Tools|HD with a Control|24 surface and Royer R121 ribbon mics, along with API 512c microphone pre-amps. CLEAN AND ELEGANT M INNEAPOLIS — Crash + Sues (www.crashandsues.com) used a combination of 2D and 3D elements in a new package of four :15 spots for Choice Hotels. Take Home a Free Night was conceived by Hitchcock, Fleming & Associates in Akron, OH, and features an animated SUV driving past a Comfort Inn Hotel. As the vehicle moves across the screen, it is shown to be towing a smiling crescent moon, helping to underscore the free hotel night promotion. HFA called on Crash + Sues to create various distinct treatments and styles for market testing before an ultimate direction was chosen. Sean Hall and Matt Sattler created styles that ranged from cartoony 2D to photorealistic 3D. Ultimately, the agency opted for something in the middle. The final product features a 2D moon with stylized 3D ele- ments. Sattler illustrated the moon and scanned it into Adobe Photoshop, where he gave it di- mension, color and shading. It was then composited in Adobe After Effects. 4K renders were generated to incorporate into Choice Hotels' print, outdoor, interactive and inte- grated content. Sattler also modeled and textured the SUV and its passengers, as well as the Choice Hotels in the background. Hall animated the vehicle, hotel and landscape in Autodesk Maya, and animated the type elements in After Effects. Hall created four versions of the commercial for the various Choice Hotels brands, and online editor Mark Anderson finished them. Echo Boys in Minneapolis handled audio post production on the project. FREE NIGHTS!