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February 2008

MIDWAY GAMES & ECLIPSE RELY ON RIOT'S VISUAL EFFECTS EXPERTISE FOR LAUNCH OF "AREA 51"

Burbank-based ad agency Eclipse tapped the talented team of artists at Riot to promote the newest version of "Area 51," a video game title released by Midway Games. The commercial is entitled "Blacksite."

"Blacksite" opens with a post-apocalyptic panorama of a town in ruin -- smoke-filled skies, turned-over vehicles, and demolished homes. A young girl walks through the devastation holding her teddy bear, singing "Ring Around the Rosey" in a daunting melancholy tone. Suddenly, the young girl encounters something resembling a human being standing on a car. The figure jumps toward the young girl, stomps its metal leg to the ground and roars as she recoils in fear.

For Riot's Creative Director, Cris Blythe, this project was quite rewarding because the Riot team was involved from the early concept stage. "This commercial was very visual effects-oriented, so we were involved from the pre-production, through production and then completion," he explains. "We were able to oversee the entire process and keep the creative vision intact."

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BOMBASTIC HITS HARD WITH JACKASS NUMBER TWO SHOWTIME PROMO

When Bombastic was approached to create a promo for ShowTime's presentation of "Jackass Number Two," Creative Director Jamie Slomski knew casting would be key. He had seen the varied and compelling work of a famous yet elusive character: thin arms and legs, a blank expression, nimble and hard working. Yes, the stickman would be the perfect central character for this uniquely challenging project.

In the ShowTime promo, the stickman compliments the rather expressive quotes from various film critics on the quality and merit of "Jackass Number Two." With each critic's comment the stickman experiences a series of increasingly intense incidents, similar in flair to those highlighted in "Jackass Number Two," until he is, to put it bluntly, a broken man. The animated sequences were inter-cut with footage from "Jackass Number Two," providing audiences with a preview of the popular film's mayhem.

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FINAL CUT'S LOGAN HEFFLEFINGER LENDS EDITORIAL FLAIR TO REGINA SPEKTOR "BETTER" MUSIC VIDEO

In a new music video for Regina Spektor, Final Cut Editor Logan Hefflefinger worked closely with DNA Director Marc Webb to bring a whimsical and fun flair to "Better." The video features a multitude of Reginas, women in black dresses and voluminous curls, playing in different environments. These carefree scenes are inter-cut with close-ups of Spektor with her icy-blue, Soviet kitschy eyes.

"The idea was simple," says DNA Director Marc Webb. "But like all simple ideas, the clip for Regina needed a refined structure; something that brought a new visual perk with every verse. Logan brought not only a sense of buoyancy to the clip -- but understood how to find those critical moments where we could connect with Regina. The clip's really fun, but I thought Logan nailed both the emotional and the beauty elements."

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OUTSIDE COMPLETES MTV's 22-MINUTE "SHORT FILM SHOOTOUT: CANNES" FOR NOKIA'S NSERIES

The award-winning editorial team from New York's Outside was asked to the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival by production company Local Theory to help promote the Nokia N93i via an integrated marketing campaign.

Following twenty teams, drawn from around the world, was a production crew documenting their progress, as well as shooting mini-documentaries on each team. Outside edited the behind-the-scenes footage, which was posted to the Nokia Nseries website, so that viewers could be kept up to date on the exciting, 2-day competition as it unfolded. Video segments were also posted to YouTube for maximum viral distribution.

MTV was so impressed with the project, that they requested a 22-minute version to air on the cable network. The 22-minute piece was edited by Outside's Jerome Wilson with Assistant Editor Greg Payton.

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