Category: Commercial

30 Seconds, No Drawing

Date: March 5, 2018 Category: Commercial, Design, Fun Comments: 0

While my new TV Spot for Urban Legends features loads of photo & video production, there is animation on almost every frame. Nonetheless, the entire piece was produced without putting pencil to paper (or stylus to tablet). This is not a rant against drawing, I LOVE DRAWING - so much in fact that 30 years of furious sketching have left my fingers creaky and aching. I give jars to my wife to open. But I can still wield a mouse and my design chops are intact, so I decided to fly without a pen on this one and see what was possible with motion collage…

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All Bears Need Love

Date: July 28, 2015 Category: Commercial, Creative, Our Content Comments: 0

I'm proud to announce that we've just released the Book Trailer for All Bears Need Love, a picture book by award-winning children's author Tanya Valentine. It's a 60-second animated short adapted from the book's art by Adam Taylor, and featuring music from talented singer-songwriter Wendy DuMond.     All Bears Need Love is a heartwarming story of an orphaned Baby Brown Bear who arrives at City Zoo, alone and scared. When a Mama Polar Bear promises to be his mother, she faces protest and opposition from the other, unenlightened animals.  But Baby Brown Bear learns family is family, no matter the differences.   Tanya Valentine writes picture books for pre-K…

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MightyPants 2015 Animation Reel

Date: March 25, 2015 Category: Commercial, Creative, Fun, Studios, TV Series, Uncategorized Comments: 0

I figured it was time. Our last Studio Animation Reel is from 5 years ago, before we transmogrified into MightyPants. It does not include many of the great new projects we developed for our friends/clients. I wanted something that focused solely on our new work. But this is not it. I'm sorry... I had to bring back some of our greatest hits, because I couldn't help myself. We just had so much fun working on shows like The Mystery Mavs, Stainboy, and GeeGuides, I just had to invite them to the party. Nonetheless, newcomers like Goodwin vs Badwin, Kneebouncers, and the Mondo Pilots join the lineup, along with some of…

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MightyPants 2014 Commercial Reel

Date: February 27, 2014 Category: Commercial, Creative, Design, Our Content Comments: 0

How often do you take the time to sit back and mack on a few commercials?  MightyPants director Tony Grillo wants to share a few 30-second slices with you, baked right here in our kitchen. You'll notice a departure from our previous reels, as we delve into more live video & graphic content. We've been fortunate enough to work with some pretty great clients over the last couple of years, and they've been trusting enough to let us wear the chef's toque.  Suffice to say nobody got burned, and we managed to feed a few million eyeballs in the process.      

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Frogs, Fish and Jellybeans

Date: February 17, 2014 Category: Commercial Tags: , , , Comments: 0

With all the crazy weather we've had, it's safe to call 2013 a pretty wet year. Adding to the moisture was a new Media Ad we helped produce for Crystal Springs and Lighthouse, featuring adorable spokes-kid Jake describing what he likes talking about while his imagination brings all of the elements to life. http://vimeo.com/81646508   The spot, titled "Great Body of Water", was another chance to mix live action with animation. Created with a modest budget, the simple-looking spot actually required some planning to properly execute. Mightypants oversaw Storyboarding, FX Supervision, Offline Edit and Animation. The talented little fellow playing Jake, while a pleasure to work with,…

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VEVO MoonMan Revealed

Date: February 13, 2014 Category: Commercial, Design, Fun Comments: 0

Perhaps you've already seen our MoonMan Spot for music video giant VEVO. It's a quick little piece that draws upon a familiar icon to bridge Vevo's viewer base across all generations of music video fans. http://vimeo.com/54798583 Although the MooMan remains anonymous in our spot, the spot was originally boarded to include a reveal of his face. Early concept art shows him as a friendly fellow in his mid 30s - perhaps an elvis fan? Who knows. I had such a fun time developing this character, I thought I'd share him with you.

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Room for Cream?

Date: February 12, 2014 Category: Commercial, Our Content Comments: 0

With all of the sick, subversive content we've produced over the years, we'll jump at the chance to redeem the studio and do a little good. This Fair Trade USA spot highlights the organization's homegrown, organic approach to supporting benevolent causes through shopping choices by drawing on a hand-made visual style and warm, folksy sound design. We created this swirling spec piece using a combination of photography, video, and hand-drawn elements manipulated in After Effects and voiced by the incomparable Ian Covell. http://vimeo.com/85389577 Fair Trade USA is known primarily for their work in the coffee industry, educating consumers and encouraging stores & shops to carry…

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OUYA Concept Art

Date: February 11, 2014 Category: Commercial, Creative Comments: 0

A few pieces of Concept Art for an alternate spot that was never produced. While it would have been fun to see this one through, we went instead with the Tantrum Boy concept from our earlier post.

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OUYA tests our mighty stomach

Date: February 10, 2014 Category: Commercial, Fun Tags: , , , , , , , , , Comments: 0

Screaming. Vomit. Spinal self abuse. As an animation outfit steeped in web content, we're comfortable with unusual requests... still, this spot for gaming pioneer OUYA prompted more than its share of "come again?" Nonetheless, when someone is willing to pay you to depict a furious shut-in beating himself to death with his own spine, you just don't say no. That's why we got into this business in the first place. Working with SF-based Graffects, we crafted this spot to evoke a world reminiscent of Adult-Swim-style programming - as if concocted in Ren & Stimpy's meth lab. Anatomy of spinal extraction via oral…

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ABC Family’s call for Teen Poets

Date: June 3, 2013 Category: Commercial, Creative, Studios Comments: 0

ABC Family and ABC Digital recently teamed up to create a campaign calling on fans to submit works of poetry for presentation to visitors of the ABC Family site. The campaign, called "You Should Know This About Me", asks users to submit written works for submission. Selected poems are then   produced into videos by the writers themselves, for display on the ABC Family Site. The campaign kicks off  with a fully-animated sizzle reel - a "call to action" title sequence - to introduce the concept and get the ball rolling with new videos. Since studios are often bound by nondisclosure agreements, it cannot be said…

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BNS Toyota campaign sparks imagination

Date: January 23, 2013 Category: Commercial, Studios Comments: 0

We love the work of Commercial Studio Brand New School. It's fun. It's imaginative. It makes us want to draw. Check out this Dream-Job campaign for Toyota Certified. Although it's obviously an effective campaign (I know where I'm going for my next car), it's very difficult to successfully pitch a concept like this. You have to know your client, you have to know your demo, and you have to know how to pitch. Clearly, anything is possible, and the folks at BNS know how to sell it!

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