Creative Design and Visual Effects companies Shade and De Motu teamed up with their EP Shira Boardman of Red Magnet to collaborate on a pair of visually explosive :30s launching HP's latest innovative products. The team worked closely with noted @radical.media Director Dave Meyers and the respected creative team at McCann, SF to produce spots that would exactly fit HP's product vision and reputation for design excellence. The creative synergy between the two post production companies was made effortless by Boardman's ability to provide a singular point of communication to all involved.
"This was the perfect opportunity to showcase the diversity, flexibility and capability of the talent assembled at Shade and De Motu," noted Boardman. "HP, radical, and McCann are names long associated with excellence, and it is a testament to the post teams that they trust our creative and technical expertise. Everyone, from Dave (Meyers) to Brad, Gerald, Ryan and Vince at McCann, were the ideal partners in creating these innovative spots - no small task when dealing with an iconic brand long known for fresh and unforgettable advertising."
De Motu's 2D expertise is displayed primarily in Patty Cake, a hard-driving showcase of HP's TouchSmart PC. Standing before the interactive computer, a montage of users actively engages the dynamic new product, dashing their hands across the screen to access endless applications and communications possibilities. The De Motu team, led by Lauren Mayer-Beug and with on-set assistance from Shade, handled all post and FX, including a sizzling replication sequence that makes it appear multiple HP users are working in a row. Additional touches that display De Motu's ability to operate on a more conceptual level are the multiple manufactured images of people's reflections on HP screen shots, which symbolize the dynamic interaction between user and machine.
So thorough was De Motu's planning for the shoot that it inspired multiple creative choices for the director, agency, and client. "Our previs inspired Meyers to shoot the talent on individual turntables, which gave us several options for both creative and execution in post production," noted Mayer-Beug. "We also worked closely with the sound design team at Eleven and the edit crew at Final Cut to choreograph the user movements and the flurry of on-screen applications."
Dominoes shows off Shade's ability to create exciting virtual environments and action. With VFX Director Bryan Godwin at the lead, Shade's team, along with creative collaboration from De Motu created a sequence of thousands of uniquely colored laptops of various sizes, makes, and designs standing upright and falling like dominoes, sometimes collapsing onto a flat surface, at other times toppling over cliffs or spiraling down intricate, geometrically complex ramps and funnels. Shade coordinated the action with a voiceover extolling the advanced capabilities of HP's new dv6t laptop. Knowing the concept for Dominoes would be very challenging to achieve in camera, Godwin worked closely with Meyers and production designer Michael Gaw to pre-build dozens of laptops and accurately recreate sets based on Gaw's designs.
"By heavily pre-producing our assets, we were able to execute an almost entirely 3D virtual field of thousands of laptops in under 3 weeks," said Godwin. "Everyone was really easy to work with and we look forward to teaming up with both @radical.media and McCann in the future."
Santa Monica-based Red Magnet, Shade and De Motu work collaboratively in the space previously occupied by Method. The three share ideas and strategies, which maximizes their output and efficiencies while allowing for fierce competition.