Santa Monica, CA (February 4, 2013) – Brickyard VFX delivered animation for Adobe spot "Animals," a tongue-in-cheek reflection on huge Super Bowl ad spends, which premiered exclusively online. Conceived by ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners and directed by Tom Routson of Tool of North America, the spot features a pair of whip-smart talking animals. You can view the spot here:
http://youtu.be/CwMYpH_oA-g
The Brickyard team, led by VFX Supervisor Mandy Sorenson and Head of CG David Blumenfeld, animated the animal stars of Super Bowls past discussing the value of online advertising. The live action was shot using a real horse and an actor in a chimpanzee suit. Brickyard digitally captured the heads of the chimpanzee and horse to extract geometric and textural data of the practical animals. The team of modelers, character animators and compositors completed precise 3D animated face replacements to synchronize the animals’ mouths with the dialogue. Using a 3-camera setup, Blumenfeld captured synchronized dialogue for visual references of the mouth and facial movements, and rigged each animal for full control of mouth movements and facial expressions. Sorenson color corrected the spot in Autodesk Lustre, and seamlessly composited the 3D facial components into the live action using Autodesk Flame, with a photorealistic result. The Brickyard team used Autodesk Maya for all 3D animation, and completed match moving in The Pixel Farm’s PFTrack.
"I'm very proud of what our team accomplished with this spot," said Blumenfeld. "We only had about a week to complete two full facial rigs from start-to-finish, and when you see the commercial, it looks like you’re watching real animals having an actual conversation."
"This is a clever spot that’s very topical and will resonate with viewers," added Brickyard Executive Producer Jeff Blodgett. "This project really added a lot of fun to the fan response to the advertising game."
About Brickyard VFX
Brickyard is a digital production studio skilled in high-end visual effects, animation, design and creative development for advertising, feature films and emerging media. With shops in Boston and Santa Monica, Brickyard is artist-centric at the core, fostering a close collaboration of not only artist-to-director but the entire creative team. Within a cozy eclectic production space, Brickyard assembles a customized crew of designers, animators, and compositors for every project. Please contact Kirsten with Brickyard VFX Atlantic at (617) 262-3220 or Jeff with Brickyard VFX Pacific at (310) 453-5722, or visit
http://www.brickyardvfx.com.
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CREDITS
Client: Adobe
Title: "Animals"
Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Co-Chairman/Executive Creative Director: Rich Silverstein
Director of Design/Creative Director: Keith Anderson
Associate Creative Director: Shane Fleming
Copywriter: Steve Nathans
Producer: Cindy Epps
Account Director: Joel Guillian
Account Manager: Varoon Jain
Production Company: Tool of North America
Director: Tom Routson
Director of Photography: John Schwartzman
Managing Director: Brian Latt
Producer: Caroline Pham
Color Correction, Animation, and VFX: Brickyard VFX
VFX Supervisor/Colorist: Mandy Sorenson
VFX Artist: Patrick Poulatian
VFX Artist: Chris Sonia
VFX Artist: Todd Mesher
VFX Artist: Andy Edwards
Head of CG: David Blumenfeld
CG Artist: Bryant Reif
CG Artist: Matt Rosenfeld
Producer: Linda JacksonExecutive Producer: Jeff Blodgett
Editorial: Barbary Post
Editor: Bob Spector
Assistant Editor: Nick Haynes
Producer: Kristen Jenkins
Audio: Lime
Mixer: Joel Waters
Assistant Audio Engineer: Tom Paolantonio
Executive Producer: Jessica Locke