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May 2004

ABC TELEVISION TAPS MET/HODDER FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW FOR "THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKE SALE"

For the second year in a row, ABC Television has called on creative branding, marketing and production company Met/Hodder to produce a compelling PSA campaign and informational video about The Great American Bake Sale. Featuring the casts of ABC's TGIF lineup -- "George Lopez," "Married to the Kellys," "Hope & Faith," "Life With Bonnie" and "The Big House" -- the PSAs and video inform and motivate ABC Television viewers and corporate sponsor employees to help end child hunger in America by holding bake sales and donating funds.

Met/Hodder collaborated with partners Share Our Strength (one of the nation's leading anti-hunger organizations), PARADE Magazine, ABC Television, Betty Crocker and Tyson Foods. The campaign is comprised of PSAs airing on ABC Television and Disney Channel, customized spots for network affiliates across the country and an internal informational video for each corporate sponsor.

"To receive over one million dollars in the inaugural year of a fundraising event is pretty remarkable," says Michael Benson, ABC Television's Senior Vice President, Marketing. "The Great American Bake Sale partners were delighted with the creative provided by Met/Hodder and enthusiastic about bringing them back to produce this year's campaign."

"It's not often we have the opportunity to take part in such a worthwhile cause and we consider it a real privilege to get the word out about The Great American Bake Sale," explains Mark Foreman, West Coast Executive Producer for Met/Hodder. "The challenge this year was having not just one, but five ABC comedies fronting the campaign. Of course, the stars were eager to help out and viewers will see their passion and energy reflected in the PSAs."

ZOIC'S LONI PERISTERE TAPPED AS VFX SUPERVISOR FOR "SERENITY"

Continuing a collaboration that has lasted eight years, Joss Whedon and Zoic VFX Supervisor Loni Peristere are reunited for the upcoming Universal feature film Serenity. The pairing is a natural extension of the work the duo completed for the television series "Firefly" on which the film is based. Peristere and Zoic Studios garnered the visual effects Emmy for "Firefly" in 2003, and Peristere has served as VFX Supervisor on Whedon's successful episodic programs "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel."

"We always felt that we were creating a feature film-level series, complete with effects that had a uniquely cinematic feel," notes Peristere, who is currently conducting pre-vis for the movie. "Now we have the opportunity to take the concept to the big screen and build on the work we started in the TV realm. Joss and I have worked together on many projects and it's a thrill to collaborate with him on this project."

"Loni Peristere and Zoic constantly expand my concept of what can be done with digital effects," says Director Joss Whedon. "They're masters of the new technology, but not slaves to it: their work integrates effects seamlessly into story instead of showing them off for their own sake. What they did on my TV show I had never seen in a movie. What they'll do on my movie... I'm just really excited to be working with these lunatics."

Serenity will continue and expand upon the adventures of the memorable characters launched in the series, and will be joined by new characters created expressly for the motion picture adaptation.

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HI-WIRE AND BWN HELP BRING WHIPLASH AND MORE TO "THE BURRITO INCIDENT"

Postproduction company HI-WIRE and sound design/music and audio post company BWN recently contributed to a new spot for Taco Johns, which stars Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey.

In the spot, "The Burrito Incident," Whiplash helps save the day by delivering Taco Johns' Mexican favorites to consumers everywhere. Here, a man is just about to enjoy his fresh and crunchy chicken and potato burrito when he walks into a mailbox, sending the burrito sailing through the air. Fortunately, Whiplash is here to help. Riding on his trusty steed - a large dog - he delivers a new burrito to the poor fellow who dropped his meal. "Thanks, little monkey dude!" exclaims the fellow.

"We had green-screen footage to do the effects bookends for the spot, but that monkey is such a professional that they got most of the "stunts" as practicals," notes Fire Artist Tony Mills. "We went with the "old-west" theme for our graphics treatments using a flickering sepia vignette. It looked great with the monkey's head and hat protruding and overlapping its little reveal window. We also tracked the food footage in to the sky and created a hero "blur" pass to put the duo in certain scenes. The crowning touch was the end graphic: The production company puppeted the dog with the monkey on its back but we could only seize about 20 frames. Using motion estimation in inferno, we created four seconds from those 20 frames and got a beautifully smooth, slow motion shot with all the right touches; the dog is "rearing up," legs pawing the air, the monkey head turning...perfect!"

"We needed to add some humor and action via the sound design, because the dog running through the grass would make sort of a lyrical swishing sound -- and what kind of concept that includes a bellowed "ride like the wind!" calls for a lyrical swishing sound?" comments BWN's Carl White. "So I choose some manic horse trotting thru St Mark's Square in Venice. Weird source, but those Italian bricks kick back and make for a great hoof noise! Also it was hard to resist the trauma of Hero banging into a mailbox so I took the sound of dynamite recorded exploding in a concrete room and added some pure metallic impact noises, which gave it the necessary immediacy. This and other stylistic and action-enhancing sound design elements made this a fun project."

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DIRECTOR BARRY KIMM CELEBRATES FILM WITH THE MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

For the second year in a row, production company Twist has helped the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival celebrate film with the creation of a unique theatrical and broadcast trailer. This year, Twist Director Barry Kimm delivers his take on the maxim "life imitates art," for the 90-second theatrical, and 60- & 30-second pieces, which promoted the 22nd annual festival.

The trailer entitled "Kosovo" opens on a man and his young daughter trudging through the snowy streets of a war-torn Eastern European city. Bundled in drab gray woolen clothing, they make their way through the desolate streets, cold and hungry, they spy a rundown movie house and decide to enter. They settle in their seats to watch the film already in progress, happy to enjoy a brief period of escapism. But they soon realize that the movie they're watching mimics almost identically their own real life drama. At first, they are confused, but as the movie progresses the cruel irony of life imitating art plays out. In the Hollywood version they are watching, the father is played by a handsome leading man with shiny black hair, and the young fresh-faced daughter's drab clothing has been replaced by a charming pink hooded cloak. The words "Escape Reality," flash on screen, followed by the Film Festival information.

"The most unique aspect of this production was making Minneapolis look like Kosovo," explains Kimm. "An abandoned movie theater and dilapidated flourmill ruins coupled with a flourish of 3D effects created a convincing war-torn world. The concept was clever and sophisticated and demanded subtle, realistic performances from the actors on some very cold mornings, so providing a compelling context for the main players was critical. Another challenge in the storytelling was deciding the difference between the 'real' Kosovo world and Hollywood's version of Kosovo. We took a straight forward, almost documentary approach to the 'real' Kosovo and played with Hollywood devices like slow-motion, music swells and perfectly art directed ash bin smudges on actors' faces to add to the pace and humor."

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