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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 | Levent OZLER
Buck Designs Contractopia
3D Spot for ServiceMagic via Hanft Raboy and Partners
 Contractopia.mov ( 7MB ) - Viewed 288 times
Building contractors often get a bad rap, which makes it important that the good ones get the credit they deserve. With ServiceMagic, a free website that enables customers to discuss, rate, and recommend contractors, all of us can find reasonable, reliable workers with legitimate stories to back up their claims. Sound like Utopia? No, it's the world of "Contractopia on Earth," an idyllic new spot for ServiceMagic created by ad agency Hanft Raboy and Partners and Buck, the design-driven creative company specializing in animation, visual effects and live action.
Service Magic provides an invaluable searching service. The website enables customers to view projects, review comments from previous clients, and see starred reviews and ratings. "Hanft Raboy and Partners approached us with this unique project, and we just knew it would be fun," says Ryan Honey, Creative Director and Principal at Buck. "Our spot is about finding trustworthy, hardworking, accessible, and friendly contractors in your area. To convey that goal, we created a Utopian society where everything is perfect and beautiful."
"We took our stylistic reference from a 1950's, 'Leave It To Beaver' feel," says Honey. "Everything is perfect in these neighborhoods; there are no delays or confusion. We knew we needed characters with a lot of humanity. We eventually settled on a very illustrative, soft look for the characters, and an environment with warm, pleasant shadows. There was a lot of information to convey in just thirty seconds, but we were able to do it in an unhurried and entertaining way. Our client was trusting and creative, and happy with the results."
Immediately identified as "a place where bad contracting just doesn't fly," Contractopia is a neatly ordered, smoothly efficient town where teams of smiling, burly contractors complete work on-time, on-budget, and with a nifty jingle in the background. In Contractopia, "one week doesn't mean one month" and thousands of homeowners provide corroborating reviews and evidence of "great, greater, and greatest" work. As a happy customer jumps for joy on her brand new deck, her contractor is rewarded with five gold stars above his head. As the camera pulls back, we see all the houses of Contractopia sporting similar five-star ratings. As a final piece-de-resistance, the stars shoot into the sky and transform into spectacular fireworks. This town is truly a dream come true, and it's only a mouse click away.
With a timeline of just four weeks, the eight-member Buck team definitely had their work cut out for them. Through innovative use of Autodesk Maya for 3D and Adobe After Effects for compositing, the resulting spot is remarkably fast-paced, yet comfortable and informative.
"It is a very quick spot," says Honey. "There is a lot of animation and information in that half minute. We were able to augment their idea of rating the contractors by including the easily recognizable star system above each contractor. It was a fantastic experience, and we can definitely say that designing characters and reworking scripts to work within a 30 second format is part of our core competency now."
Technologies used: Autodesk Maya, Adobe After Effects
Buck
Specializing in design-driven creative, Buck's directors and artists use animation, visual effects and live action to collaborate with clients, from concept to delivery, producing work that is visceral, diverse and innovative.
From offices in New York and Los Angeles, Buck works with a broad range of clients in the advertising, broadcast, retail and entertainment industries.
Buck: http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/8516.html
Credits
Buck (Production Company)
Creative Director: Ryan Honey
Executive Producer: Maurie Enochson
Producer: Nick Terzich
Art Direction: Thomas Schmid, Jeremy Sahlman
Animation and 3D: Jeremy Sahlman, Jens Lindgren, Henry Foster, Alex O'Donnell, Paul America, Tomas Pena
Design: Thomas Schmid, Chris Lee, Yker Moreno
Lighting and Rendering: Bill Dorais
Editor: Harry Walsh
Software: Maya, Adobe After Effects
Hanft Raboy and Partners (Advertising Agency)
Producers: Vera Pandolfo (Driver), Namik Minter
Creative Director: Johnny Tumelty
Music: RMI Music
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