Screen Magazine - Index

Screen Magazine - Screen Magazine: Vol. 29, Issue 21 - Index

character-driven spots and our objective was to develop the
personality of the store by pushing the animation further than we
had previously. We did not spend a lot of time morphing the store
into the character but got immediately into the action,” explained
Vance Miller, GFX technical director/animator/ character
animator.
Your taste buds go for a wild ride in “Mechanical Bull,” which
opens with a tight shot of the restaurant, already established as a
character, on the bull. We see the grip on the saddle horn, a spur,
the cowboy hat, then the character being bucked and ultimately
bounced out of the saddle and thrown into the distance, whipping
his hat in the air to promote Checker’s new Smokehouse Buford.
In “Slam Dunk,” the animated building spins a basketball, rolls it
from shoulder to shoulder, dribbles and dunks to promote Checkers
“hot new taste” – their Buffalo chicken sandwich hand-dipped in
Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce.
For “Welders“ the animation lowers the visor on his welder’s helmet,
fires up his blowtorch and toasts to perfection Checkers New
Toasted Frisco Melt and their American Melt.
Creative director/art director Mark Mueller added, “The animations
get applause at client presentations. We don’t know who performs
harder, the little restaurant character or GFX’s animators.”
//www.guerillafx.com
MOTION504 TARGETS ITS AUDIENCE
motion504, a broadcast design and animation studio based in
Minneapolis, specializes in the art of motion. With its open studio
space, motion504 is built upon the idea of collaboration through
communication, critique and contribution amongst its artists and
clients. This collective philosophy lends itself to the company’s
talent contributing to each and every project, and drawing upon
their creative skills and technical experience in design, animation,
3D modeling, illustration and visual effects.
Recent design projects include in-store campaigns for Target and
a TV campaign for St. Ives. For St. Ives, motion504 took on the role
of post supervision, designing and animating the type treatments,
invisible VFX, rotoscoping and compositing. For Target, motion504
has been commissioned to create a CG in-store spot to tout the
retailer’s “Bookmarked” program, which selects books for readers.
“Club Picks” is the first of three spots to break in Target stores
nationwide.
The spot opens on a dreamy fantasy landscape where a red
tree sparkles in the sun. A splendid red bird takes flight out of the
tree soaring into the sky and flying towards the camera before
transforming into a book. A pair of hands catches the book, titled
“Club Picks,” and flips through the pages, which introduces the
recommended tome for your next book club gathering.
motion504 was given some direction for the mood of the spot
through words provided by Target, such as “playful,” “simple,”
“engaging,” “illusion” and “hand-drawn.” The client also wanted
to play on the metaphor of a bird in a tree turning into a book.
Taking these initial concepts, designers/creative directors Scott
Wenner and Amy Schmitt then presented several boards with
different design elements and concepts. The team ultimately
combined elements from each concept and created a hybrid
storyboard.
“The transition of the bird into the book is one of the most important
elements,” says Wenner. “We had to capture the magic of this
transformation. The bird is not realistic in design, but had realistic
flight. Much attention was paid to elevate the environment so
when the bird is flying at you, it feels exciting and thrilling, not scary
or threatening.”
To merge the two different worlds in the spot – the fantasy world
and the real world, which happens when the person catches the
book – motion504 used a combo of CG animation and live-action.
A hand-model was shot using the RED camera at 75 frames-persecond.