Screen Magazine - Index

Screen Magazine - Screen Magazine: Vol. 29, Issue 15 - Index

A Midsummer Night’s Post Report Compiled by Amy Wilschke
Blind’s Brave New World Of Electric Cars
Santa Monica/New York-based design and production
studio Blind designs and animates a polished visual
argument for the widespread adoption of electric cars in
a two-minute web film, “Better Place: What We Stand For,”
created by Addis Creson (Berkeley, Calif.) for Better Place
(BPL, Palo Alto, Calif.). The elegantly design-driven film
had a very short turnaround, with Blind delivering to the
agency in just a week’s time. Online on the BPL website,
“What We Stand For” outlines why and how Better Place is
partnering with governments and automakers to build an
infrastructure of charge facilities, reintroducing the electric
car for mass production.
The short film opens on cleanly rendered oil droplets
covering a white page. A female voiceover begins, “For
one hundred years, transportation has been dependent on
oil.” An oil drop falls and morphs from a spherical droplet
into a car then a circle detailing the negative impact
A Conversation With Gasket (Minneapolis)
About Treasure Island Resort And Casino
What are some of the latest trends in visual effects and
animation that you are noticing today?
Tammy Kimbler Weber, Producer: Design, VFX and animation
companies are transitioning to full content creators, and are
no longer considered just “post.” Companies who produce
digital content are becoming on par with production
companies, and we are excited that clients no longer see
us as the fixers….we are part of the team from the inspiration
phase and it is very
rewarding creatively.
How has your working
methodology changed
in the past year if at all?
Are you being asked to
create different kinds
of projects? Adapt to a changing ad landscape?
Our primary focus is now creative concepting and direction
from the beginning of projects to the end. We work more
as an extension of the advertising Agency creative team,
helping them extend and explore their approach. This
process works well on both traditional television commercials
and new, more expansive interactive projects.
How does summer differ from the rest of the year in terms of
amount and type of work that comes through the door?
There are fewer commercials in the summer, since they
are tied to the television season, but there are many more
interactive projects.
How do you keep your work fresh and maintain and
excitement for what you do?
Research, humor and vacation. Visiting clients face to face
also helps.
My favorite summer activity is:
Lunch at a table outside and going to the movies for both
the air conditioning and blockbuster entertainment.
//www.gasket.tv
dependency on fossil fuels has on “our people, our planet
and our prosperity.” The voiceover continues, “It’s time
to switch from the pump to the plug. Better Place is reintroducing
the electric car for mass production.”
Blind was approached by agency Addis Creson and Better
Place to create pure, elegant 2D animation with cinematic
production value. Says art director Lawrence Wyatt, “We
animated ‘Better Place’ using After Effects with one-quarter
circles as our design theme. Black dots represent all oil-based
fuels while the color blue symbolizes a fresh, new electric carfilled
world. The
BPL logo, with its
fractured circular
shape, also
influenced the
design elements
in the piece.”
Blind jumped at
the opportunity
to help promote such a noble cause. Says executive
producer David Kleinman, “By virtue of our industry and
its competitive nature, we have to be forward-thinking
with our design sensibilities, our animation and production
techniques. That we were involved with a client whose
forward-thinking goals represent a very real future for
environmentally friendly transportation, made the entire
endeavor even more gratifying.”
This compelling short is an attention-grabbing example
of animation expertise Blind brings to its branding clients.
Please let us know if we can provide additional materials.
//www.blind.com
PUNY’s New “Nordeast” Home Not So Puny After All
PUNY Entertainment has a new address. The burgeoning
Minneapolis interactive entertainment company best
known for its work on Emmy-nominated television show “Yo
Gabba Gabba,” has recently landed in spacious new digs
at 507 Hennepin Avenue East, Minneapolis.
The move comes after months of looking for the perfect
space to house all of its creative endeavors under one
roof. With 7,200 sq. ft. – four times the space of its last
facility – team PUNY now has expanded workspace for its
in-house crew of 22 full-time designers, developers and
animators. The space will also boast new client reception
area, green screen production stage and room to develop
and showcase interactive installation and mixed-reality
development, where people will interact with wall-sized
digital characters and ethereal designs.
PUNY’s new studio also boasts a unique storefront gallery,
and founder Shad Petosky has big plans for his new shop
windows. “We’re calling the gallery ‘Pink Hobo,’” Petosky says.
“We found a pile of old sign letters left by the previous tenant
and had an in-house gallery-naming contest to rearrange
them. We’re going to showcase contemporary digital art,
design and story-telling from local and nationally recognized
artists. It’ll be the stuff most people don’t consider art at all:
toy hacks, programmer’s code, light shows and underground