Global

New York, NY (May 12, 2008) -- Company X Editor Barney Miller recently completed work on a colorful and eye-popping commercial for Crayola, which was created by ad agency mcgarrybowen. Welcome To My World is a 3D spot about its new outdoor 3D sidewalk chalk, and involves a seamless melding of editorial and VFX.

Even though Welcome to My World had some challenging effects work that was needed to bring the actual 3D chalk experience to life, Barney Miller was a great asset in bringing all the parts together into a memorable story that has an infectious energy and lively sense of fun, says Tom Pratt, mcgarrybowen Creative Director. It's a tribute to his impeccable ear that we ended up with the cool track that was the crowning touch in this spot. Barney is a kick to work with. We love his inventiveness and intuition. He also has a gift for music that is key to our campaign. He's been down-to-earth and very collaborative through the usual challenging rounds of versions, but never lets the work lose its spark. We also appreciate the support of the whole Company X team whenever we work with them.

The spot opens as two kids bicycle past a friends house, and notice some odd, goofy behavior: kids are tottering and twirling about on a Crayola-colored driveway. The two youngsters join in on the fun -- wearing a snazzy pair of neon-green glasses that bring the outdoor drawings to life in 3D! They leap over and weave around the floating images on the driveway. The spot concludes with Crayolas tagline, The Art of Childhood, on the driveway before a stream of water washes it away.

To view Welcome to My World, please go to http://www.companyx.tv/crayola



For mcgarrybowen Producer Chance Bassett, the assignment required a top-notch team for their launch spot of Crayolas extremely innovative product. mcgarrybowen music producer, Craig Romney, worked in conjunction with Barney Miller to a find a licensed track, which gave the spot the right flow and child-like fun.

Ive worked with both Company X and Suspect in the past and knew theyd be a great fit for this project, comments Bassett. We assembled a team that could deliver a story-driven, fun spot. Both Barney and Tim [Crean, Partner/VFX Supervisor of SUSPECT] have a very collaborative nature, which I felt was essential. We briefed Company X and Suspect at the same time to make this a seamless project from the get-go. Barney always has a way of finding the soul and essence of the story we are trying to tell for Crayola.

Barneys my go-to guy, says Nola Pictures Director Lloyd Stein. Hes one of the few editors that has the talent to cut anything from a music video to comedy. Hes got a great sense of style and eye, and is fantastic to work with. This spot was really driven by the music, and the feeling of summer freedom and childhood. Barney captured all of that in the spot, which showcases a great product. Tim Crean was a lifesaver. He was an incredible asset to have the day of our shoot and as part of the team.

This was a graphics-heavy spot, but it wasnt strictly boarded with locked-up shots, comments Barney Miller. The agency showed me a demo done by Tim Crean, which was very helpful during the edit. There was no motion control and it was simply done, shot like a documentary real-life spot. I was able to create a rough cut with some graphics provided by SUSPECT in the Avid. The process was a very organic give-and-take. It feels like in-camera effects when it was actually done in Flame.

Miller worked closely with the agency creatives and Crean to ensure a seamless process between the edit and visual effects. The SUSPECT team did preliminary work to shoot reference plates and match realistic chalk-like textures in Flame.

This was an intriguing project from the get-go since it was a new and innovative product for Crayola, explains Crean. We re-constructed the filmed scenes and matched the camera movements from the live-action shoot. This gave us a lot of flexibility in post to create any design we wanted to in this 3D Crayola world. Working with Barney was great. This was a real collaboration between the agency, editor and VFX company. They embraced this as a VFX-driven project and brought us into the fold early on to formulate ideas. It was dynamite.

Miller also helped Crean and the SUSPECT team create a neat effect for the animation of the drip and Crayola logo washing away in the end shot by speeding up the film, which was well received by the agency and client.

[Creative Director] Tom Pratt was great to work with, concludes Miler. He was open to new ideas and not locked down to doing things a certain way. [Producer] Chance Bassett gave me some of the 3D chalk sets for my kids. It was nice for me to experiment with the product before I started cutting. And I have a longstanding relationship with Lloyd Stein; we understand each others sensibilities. He always gives an editor an ample amount of footage. The spot turned out so well.


Client: Crayola

Spot Title: "Welcome to My World" :30

Ad Agency: mcgarrybowen
Creative Director: Tom Pratt
Producer: Chance Bassett
Art Director: Tom Pratt
Copywriter: Danny McHatton

Production Company: Nola Pictures/New York, NY
Director: Lloyd Stein
Executive Producer: Charlie Curran
DP: Jesse Green
Producer: Carla Tate
Where shot: Los Angeles, CA

Editorial Company: Company X/New York, NY
Editor: Barney Miller
Assistant Editor: Renn Cheadle
Executive Producer/Producer: Rachelle Way

Design and VFX Company: SUSPECT/New York, NY
Partner/Creative Director/VFX Supervisor: Tim Crean
VFX Artists: Jason Cunningham, Steve Koenig, Jamie Aguire
2D Creative Director/Designer: Hoon Chong
Partner/Executive Producer: Rob Appelblatt
Producer: Tsiliana Jolson

Postproduction Company: Nice Shoes & SUSPECT/New York, NY
Colorist: Chris Ryan @ Nice Shoes
Online Editor: Tim Crean @ SUSPECT

Sound Design Company: Company X/New York, NY
Sound Designer: Barney Miller

Audio Post Company: Sound Lounge/New York, NY
Mixer: Tom Jucarone

www.companyx.tv