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July 2005

INTERspectacular: From Revolution to Evolution

New York-based concept and design boutique INTERspectacular celebrates its 1st year in business by unveiling the evolution of Comedy Central's re-design.

Co-Founders/Creative Directors Luis Blanco and Michael Uman launched INTERspectacular in Fall of 2003 with the awarding of Comedy Central's original re-design project. Intended as a visual revolution from Comedy Central's previous stylistic identity, INTERspectacular incorporated the work of pop and street art including icons, symbols and marks provided by underground artists such as Shepherd Fairey, best known for Obey/Giant and Studio Number One; Friends With You, designers and makers of plush urban toys; and Dr. Revolt, old school graffiti legend. INTERspectacular also worked closely with music house, Expansion Team to create all the original music and sound design.

In the Fall of 2004, Comedy Central once again called on INTERspectacular to develop and grow the new look. INTERspectacular turned to underground artists Shepherd Fairey; Nathan Jurevecius, the illustrator/toy designer known for the Scary Girl line of toys; Triston Eaton, illustrator/toy designer and owner of Thunderdog Studios; Dave Savage illustrator/designer; Superdeux, toy/graphic designer; and Filth/Lucas Irwin, print and toy designer. INTERspectacular also created new print identity elements for the network, including letterhead, envelopes and business cards.

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Twist's Barry Kimm Makes a Hospital Home With Altru Health System

Twist Director Barry Kimm turns out yet another humorous spot with "Likes It Here" for Altru Health System. Honored recently by Communication Arts in its 2004 Advertising Annual, Kimm has relied once again upon his keen sense for humor and wit, and directing cast members.


To view the spot, go to: http://www.twistfilm.com/quicktimes/altru.mov

The commercial opens on a young man in a hospital bed putting red dots on his arm with a marker. He is kicking back, the game is on, and he's talking to a friend on the phone. "Oh, nice!" he says as he takes a swing in the air reacting positively to the sports game on TV. Just then, he hears the nurse coming and tells his friend: "I've gotta go." A beautiful nurse enters the room and says, "Here's that extra pillow you asked for." A changed man from moments before, he leans weakly forward so the nurse can put the pillow behind his back. The narrator notes: "At Altru, patient satisfaction is a top priority." The nurse tells her patient, "Doctor says you're going home today." "Home?" the young man asks alarmed. Again the narrator: "So we're proud that JD Power & Associates has recognized us for outstanding patient experience." The young man pulls out his arm covered with self-inflicted red dots, and shows it to the nurse. "Good try, Mr. Johnson," says the nurse unconvinced. And the spot ends.

"The creatives came up with a funny, streamlined concept that required letting the action play out to get to a funny, quirky, personal moment from the hospital patient," explains Twist Director Barry Kimm. "We didn't want the moment to become telegraphed, rather the vibe was to keep it simple and real like the original idea."

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Lightborne Creates Edgy & Visually Compelling Shorts For MTV2 Re-launch

Motion design and production studio Lightborne recently contributed its talent to a series of cutting-edge short films for the re-launch of MTV2. The four films, "Graffiti Ghost" and "Beautiful Ugly 1, 2 & 3," were written, directed, shot, and produced by the Lightborne team.

"MTV2 was looking to relaunch their network, with an entirely new identity and programming schedule," explains Ben Nicholson, Lightborne Owner & Animator/Designer. "We created two original ideas, a one-minute short film entitled 'Graffiti Ghost' and a series of three :30 shorts called 'Beautiful Ugly 1, 2 & 3.'"

"Graffiti Ghost," which is currently airing, features a hyper-real sci-fi look at a graffiti artist and his step-by-step process of creating a graffiti piece. Atypical of the hip-hop approach usually attributed to graffiti art, the artwork was created live by Lightborne Designer Chris Gliebe, an accomplished street artist known for his dimensional-painting style. Shot using stop-motion digital stills, and full-motion video, the artwork was created using a time-lapse sequence of the graffiti artist at work. Scott Fredette served as DP and was responsible for taking a staggering amount of digital stills, which created the edgy stop-motion look that takes place throughout.

The "Beautiful Ugly" series is composed of three :30 shorts that are based on making ugly bodily functions beautiful and humorous -- an idea that will appeal to MTV2's target demographic. A unique mixture of full-color animated elements and black-and-white 16mm footage creates a surreal and hilarious series of "head scratchers" with each spot more offensive and endearing than the next. Editing was done by Keith Roberts, and the graphics compositing was done by Ben Nicholson with the help of Designer Chris Gliebe.

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