Gap Jeans Take Shape with Shilo's New Spin on '70s Illustration

Bi-coastal creative studio, Shilo, today detailed it's contribution to a new :30 television commercial for Gap Inc. The spot, titled "Jeans Take Shape," will mark the retailer's return to television advertising after nearly a year hiatus. Breaking on July 20 the spot is part of a major cross-media marketing campaign created by Gap's creative agency Laird+Partners, which features a range of denim styles and silhouettes available at Gap this fall. Print, radio, outdoor and online elements will support the nationally airing television spot.

Cut to Peaches' beat-heavy track, "Do Ya," the spot focuses a whole new energy on denim. It features a series of dancers presented in black and white, each with their own unique movement and style. Each dancer dons denim articles, highlighted in blue, that quickly morph from one style to another in the blink of an eye while Gap's classic white backdrop sets the stage for Shilo's innovative yet retro design elements which animate in time to the music.

The Shilo team designed and animated hundreds of hand-drawn illustrations each carefully rendered to appear as though an invisible hand was drawing it with pen and ink. Stars, rainbows, abstract shapes, and typographic elements are set in motion in time to the choreographed dance moves.

"Nostalgia can be a powerful sentiment," explains lead designer, Gerald Mark Soto, "In this case, Gap sought to reach back to their roots and create a campaign that not only reflects their history in popular culture but also does it with a modern flair. Taking the retro design and putting a modern twist on the animation seemed like the perfect solution to making a memorable and relevant spot."

Soto, also contributed to the print campaign, which mirrors the television spot and features the work of famed fashion photographer David Simms. As with the TV spot, the print campaign also contains graphics that illustrate the names of Gap's popular denim fits for fall including 'the skinny', 'the boyfriend', and 'the mini.'

"This spot was a blast to work on," said André Stringer, Shilo creative director. "We were given latitude to animate the graphic elements as though they were supporting characters in the spot. Just as each dancer had their unique moves, the graphics have their own personality but they also had to work in concert with the dancers so it was as much about creating an interesting composition that drew attention to the denim as it was enhancing the performers."

Creative director, Jose Gomez, added, "It was such an honor for us to work with one of the most influential American brands in existence today. The Gap continues to let a refreshing sense of freedom and playfulness drive the creative of their commercials. It's no wonder Gap commercials are some of the most talked about spots in our industry."

Shilo has recently been tapped to create a series of network idents for Fuel TV and design a main title sequence for a new series on SCI FI channel titled Eureka, which premiered July 18. They also directed a music video for Angels & Airwaves, and a spot in celebration of Planter's Peanuts 100th anniversary starring the iconic, Mr. Peanut.













Advertiser: Gap Inc. (San Francisco)
Spot Title: "Jeans Take Shape" :30
Initial Air Date: July 20
Where Shot: CECO Studios (New York)

Agency: Laird+Partners (New York)
Creative Director: Trey Laird
Art Director: Carl Byrd
Producer: Leigh Donaldson

Live Action Production Company: DNA Films (Los Angeles)
Director: Francis Lawrence
Choreographer: Rich Talauega, Tone Talauega

Design & Animation: Shilo (New York/San Diego)
Creative Director(s): André Stringer and Jose Gomez
Lead Design & Animation: Gerald Mark Soto
Design & Animation: Eric Bauer
Design Assistant: Dorian West
Intern: Stieg Retlin
Producer: Jeremy Yaches
Executive Producer: Tracy Chandler

Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors (Los Angeles)
Editor: Adam Pertofsky

Visual Effects: Method Studios (Santa Monica)
Inferno Artist: Russell Fell

Music (Artist): Peaches
Album/Track: Impeach My Bush / "Do Ya"

About Shilo
Shilo is a collective of directors, designers, and animators who share a common passion in forging new perspectives in storytelling through design and visual effects driven production. Shilo strives to not only push the boundaries of contemporary motion graphics and direction, but also to strike a nerve in an ever-numbing audience. The studio endeavors to create projects with boundless emotional impact by seamlessly combining live-action, 3D-CGI, classic typography and illustration with music and sound design. In 2005, the studio won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Design for Showtime's dramatic series "HUFF."

Shilo: http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/7949.html

---

---