Director Lea Esmaili Joins Blinkink for UK Representation
November 21, 2024
Erin Sarofsky reunites with producers Anthony and Joe Russo (who they worked with on the titles for “Community” in ’09) to close Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” The Chicago studio presented eight creative directions with the winning treatment created by Sarofsy and comic book artist David Mack. [Watch]
LA-based British ex-pat director/designer Simon Clowes, Prologue veteran Ilya V. Abulkhanov and the Prologue crew instill the characters in this opening for Bungie’s Destiny game with a believable warmth and vulnerability rarely (if ever) seen in the CG cinematic genre. [Watch]
Ever wish you could control your espresso machine with your iPad? Me neither, but you may be tempted after seeing this seductive product demo for Saeco’s flagship model, the GranBaristo Avanti. Designed, directed and produced by PlusOne in Amsterdam thru Iris Worldwide. Music and sound design, ParkStudio. [Watch]
Cute anthropomorphic bakery products are not what I expect from an Axe spot but in the hands of MJZ director Matthijis van Heijningen and Paris VFX powerhouse Mikros Image (the team behind Canal+ “The Bear”), the unexpected casting choice works and moves Axe into new territory with “Dark & Gold.” [Watch]
Take a look at the unbelievable level of detail and craftsmanship Vetor Zero and Lobo invested in Gabriel Nobrega’s allegorical stop-motion film “Drugo,” produced as “a tool to explain the drug war and broaden the debate with the general public.”
[Watch]
Buck breaks out their full toolbox including “clay, spray paint, wood, lasers and a sprinkle of lolcats” to create this bright and brisk online video for onwardinternet.com (aka the internet suggestion box) thru digital agency Possible. [Watch]
Nexus directors Smith & Foulkes brew up two-minutes of apocalyptic fun for a serious cause in this broadcast and cinema spot boosting awareness for Stand Up To Cancer, the partnership between Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK, billed as a ‘killer night of fundraising.’
Smith & Foulkes: “The initial brief was to turn the table on cancer, depicting the disease as a civilization spreading aggressively – unable to prevent its own Armageddon in the style of a disaster movie.
“The main challenge was how to visualize the cancer cells. We wanted to steer away from the obvious route of showing cells as a bunch of grotesque alien germs, but we were also acutely aware of not making them too human or cute.”
“We also had to find a way to illustrate the new therapies, drugs and scientific breakthroughs that are fighting Cancer. We wanted their arrival to be initially magical and mysterious. so we used a glowing blue orb, an unexplained light descending upon a shadowy world.
“Disaster Movies rely heavily on vast visual spectacle and a cast of thousands, so working within our time constraints we decided to recreate this using 2D matt paintings to show a sense of the city without having to model every building.
“This gave it an illustrative and richly textured feel. Modeling and animating our cast in 3D gave us the flexibility of performance we wanted, and made them stand out from their environment.” [Watch]
The razor wars between Schick and Gillette have produced some ridiculous ad moments and depending on your level of cynicism this spot may be another one, but I prefer to see 1stAveMachine‘s new product demo for the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Razor with FlexBall Technology (ok, the name is ridiculous) as a step in the right direction away from hewn jaws and jet planes.
Beautifully shot, minimal in execution and featuring New York composer Son Lux, the 83-second clip produced for Grey New York is a small part of the $200 million Gillette is spending to market the razor launched earlier this year. [Watch]
Although best known for their striking 3D animated work, London’s ManvsMachine rebrand the film domain of UK broadcaster Channel 4 with an intriguing mix of live action, stop motion (the logo) and digital post production (provided by Analog).
MvsM say they developed “a contemporary take on a classic film strip / projector effect… to give the package a visual signature beyond the logo.
“The idents see the technique applied to cinematic live action compositions, presenting the Film4 logo in various locations. Each location/scene carefully crafted to elicit a variety of different moods.
“Idents begin ambiguously before seamlessly branching off into one of three possible endings, making minimal adjustments to shift the mood dramatically.”
Watch the finished IDs with all three of their alternate endings:
[Watch]
London’s Marshmallow Laser Feast call their sombre yet startling all-CG clip for Duologue’s cerebral “Memex” track “a 3D study of mortality exploring new photographic processes, in this case photogrammetry,” and view the project as the beginning of a deeper study into VR filmmaking.
MLF: “We worked with FBFX and their amazing 94-camera high resolution scanning rig, to create a full body scan of model Beryl Nesbitt. The scans then went to MLF’s long-term VFX collaborators Analog where they snatched a magical moment of the sunset through a window (the Analog Studio toilet), as a spherical panoramic HDR photo.
“These two photographic processes combined in 3D software where the toilet sunset illuminated Berlys Photo scanned form. We wanted to go beyond the limits of the audience’s eyeballs – using 3D to reveal different perspectives on the human form.”
Arvid Niklasson, director at Analog in London: “After we received the high res models from FBFX we started to build realistic shaders for the skin. Obviously the eyes are extremely important in making a 3D person look realistic so we built our own layered eyes and tear duct.
“Another thing we added was subtle hairs on the body. Since beryl is ‘transitioning to death’ we also had to sculpt alternative versions where she was covered in an ash like material.
“Extra to the main model, we also created all the additional pieces for the video like cloth and the rose. Once we’d decided on camera moves together with MLF every scene was lit, rendered & comped in house at Analog.” [Watch]
The Mill‘s post crew help Rogue director Sam Brown highlight homegrown talent from across Africa in this spectacular centerpiece of Guinness’ high-energy assault on the continent.
In development for over a year and part of the global Guinness “Made of More” platform, the two-minute film premiered during a four-hour sponsored takeover of MTV Base. The #madeofblack campaign was conceived by AMVBBDO in London with BBDO offices in Africa. [Watch]
The first of four new TalkTalk ads thru Chi&Partners finds Nexus directors Smith & Foulkes applying their signature charm and wit to unlikely 3D heroes on an epic mission.
Smith & Foulkes: “The initial idea for this spot started as a mantra shouted by a crew of household objects demanding better and cheaper TV.
“But the challenge was not just about incorporating the emotional connection seen in previous TalkTalk spots into the script, but also about providing pure cinematic entertainment – so we took a slightly different approach, using the cinematic potential of a group of friends setting out on an epic quest to find a house with TalkTalk TV.
“This gave us the comic scope to show our heroic group’s most over-dramatic adventures in a quiet corner of suburbia.” [Watch]
This extended two-minute 3D animated clip for Renault’s diminutive rear-engine Twingo called “Go Anywhere, Go Everywhere” shows off the signature playfulness of the directors, French visual artists Kuntzel+Deygas who you may remember as the talent behind the stand out “Catch Me If You Can” opening title sequence from way back in 2003.
Produced by Kuntzel+Deygas’ Paris prodco called Add a Dog for Publicis Conseil Paris with music by Beck. [Watch]
At first glance, Patrick Clair‘s tasteful, minimalist and dark aesthetic seems a strange design choice for programming as crass and loud as the MTV Video Music Awards, but the contrast between packaging and content is just what this show needed to keep it from spiraling into a rabbit hole of hubris and inanity.
The title’s circular forms extended into the show content as they “exploded into vibrant, crazy generative turbines of color, form and movement – each a unique sculptural signature of the video they represent.”
Antibody and Elastic handled the design for the show’s branding and broadcast design. [Watch]
