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.
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, was very young for the level of focus required of a spokesperson. Having storyboards and reference frames readily available on digital tablet was extremely helpful to the process – and what kid doesn’t like playing with an iPad? Under the direction of Ashley Evans and her amazing crew, we knocked out an hour of sweet looking footage in just under 6 hours.
Animation Director Tony Grillo works with “Jake” to craft an animation-friendly performance.
After a smooth shoot, an offline edit was necessary to nail down the timing & compositions that our animation would be populating. Thinking visually and dimensionally was equally important to finding the right takes to tell our story. A crafty mix of different audio & video takes gave us our live action foundation, and we were ready to begin animating.
Flash was our primary tool for character work, but After Effects played a small role as well. Partner Graffects handled motion tracking & color correction to blend our work seamlessly with the video master, and within a few weeks we had a spot.