Broadcast design and animation studio motion504 recently completed a visually compelling campaign for Alberto Culver's St. Ives, created by ad agency Campbell Mithun and directed by Steve Downer of Pony Show.
The four :15 and one :30 spots are clean, sleek and simple with St. Ives facial products taking center stage. To view the campaign, go to http://www.motion504.com/hype/St_Ives/.
motion504 took on the role of post supervision, designing and animating the type treatments, invisible vfx, rotoscoping and compositing.
"It was a great opportunity to team with people that we haven't worked with before," said Andy Reynolds, motion504 Owner/Creative Director. "We were able to bring in partnerships in editorial, color and finishing."
Collaborating with renowned commercial director Steve Downer, motion504 provided post supervision on-set during the four-day shoot. The spots were shot high-speed on the new Phantom Camera at 1000fps and 1500fps, which proved to be an interesting technical challenge. Working with the Phantom Camera involved huge amounts of data, and required a pipeline that could handle the terabytes of raw files and time-intensive conversions to more user-friendly files.
"With the Phantom being so new, we had to create an appropriate tapeless workflow for this cutting-edge technology," explained Scott Wenner, motion504 Creative Director/Designer. "Creative editorial was done using Apple ProRes versions of every shot, and then selects were converted to Cineon files in order to keep color data available throughout composite, design and finish."
Prior to shooting, motion504 created animatics to help with the pacing of the spots and to ensure everyone was on the same page. This was used in conjunction with shooting boards from Downer. During the shoot, magnets were attached to the falling products, which were controlled by an electromagnetic ceiling. An air cannon was used to shoot the fresh flowers into the air as the bottles were released and fell past the camera mounted below.
"Often the products had to be dropped 20 times to get the right shots and positioning," Wenner continued. "The labels had to be readable. There are many nuances that you can't catch with the naked eye. The water was the most amazing part to watch."
For the type treatment, the goal was to make the graphics feel natural and organic, appearing as though they were shot in-camera. Subtle contrasts of color against the stark white background also helped to make the spots look cleaner and sharper.
"There were a number of invisible effects in the campaign," said Amy Schmitt, motion504 Creative Director/Designer. "The water and crystal animations involved a lot of layering and compositing. For one of the spots our challenge was to make the type look like it was in water, but readable at the same time. We also worked with [Editor] Randy Kramer on the speed changes, which made the beautiful slow-motion footage more interesting and dynamic."
Credits:
Airdate: September 22, 2008
Agency: Campbell MithunDirector of Production: Kathy DiToroExecutive Creative Director: Garry ValoneCreative Director: Lee AllanCopywriter: Peggy ArnsonExecutive Producer: Lisa Thotland
Production Company: Pony Show Ent.Director Steve DownerDP: Steve DownerExecutive Producers: Susan Kirson and Jeff FrankelProducer: Nicholas UnsworthShooting Location: Hollywood, California
Design Company: motion504Creative Director/Designer: Scott WennerDesigner: Amy SchmittExecutive Producer: Eric Mueller
Editorial: Fischer EditEditor: Randy KramerOnline: Tony MillsExecutive Producer: Kathy Yerich
Color: Pixel FarmColorist: Oscar Oboza
Music: BWN
