In the production of commercials and other types of advertising,
there are often short deadlines to meet especially when a client
makes a change at the last moment. To be a success in this area,
companies need to have the ability to produce quality products that
catch the viewers attention so that they remember the product,
company, or event. One company that has proved time and again that
they have what it takes to make it in the dynamic world of
advertising is V12. V12 is a small, Emmy-nominated company
specializing in commercial production, broadcast branding, and
animation. The company was started in 1998 by David Hwang and Steve
Lavy and has grown from five to over 30 personnel. Many of V12s
projects feature high energy, high impact video and audio in a
variety of areas: sports, the Internet, department stores, food
products, networks, and more.
Much of V12s work is for repeat clients requesting additional
projects and this means that each project needs to have continuity
between it and previous ones. Some of the best examples of this are
the graphics V12 produced for ESPN for the NBA 2003 season games
and finals. According to David Sparrgrove, the Executive Creative
Director at V12, as the season progressed, each commercial built on
the preceding one, culminating in the championship spot. CINEMA 4D
is the 3D tool of choice for V12 and unlike most Creative
Directors, David knows how to use the program and is extremely
hands on when it comes to the creative process of a project.
Because of this, he is able to create the initial design and
concept, present it to the client, make changes based on their
requests, and get the design settled before it is handed off to the
animators. This allows the animators to concentrate on refining and
building on the design instead of dealing with redesigns and rework
since the approved design is already agreed to. When V12 was
initially concepting the entire NBA project, the actual look of the
package came about as David was playing around in CINEMA 4D in
order to come up with some 3D elements. While doing so, they
stumbled across a look and style of animation that was very clean
and slick and which they presented to ESPN. This look was based on
some of the built-in Bhodinut Shaders and was labeled by V12 as
Uber-3D. As the regular NBA season progressed to the playoffs and
the conference finals, this Uber-3D look continued to evolve
culminating with the graphics for the finals.
From the very beginning of the project, V12 was not given a concept
to follow but was asked to come up with something entirely new.
They did research by looking at what was being done on other
networks with regard to sports graphics, specifically basketball,
then expanded the research to include magazines and books on
basketball. They finally settled on a look that included basketball
stars with a jazzy look but without a lot of sports graphics.
However, as the project progressed, it began to include more and
more big 3D elements so they began using a lot of black to help
keep it looking cool, unique, and slick.
Unlike most packages that provide one large seamless 3D animation
and integrates images of running players into the 3D, V12 ended up
doing more editorials by using cuts and 3D elements to allude to
the motion of basketball players along with the intensity and
fast-paced action of the game. This was done by using animated 3D
lines that move around much like a basketball player does on the
court, such as weaving around other players and swooping up to make
a basket. Short clips of players running on the court or still
images that flash in and out of the video help bring out the
intensity and action as well. For the championship game, V12 took
the concept of the big stadium feel, then stripped it down to a
more abstract representation of a stadium or arena with the 3D
lines converging into the final logo, taking the viewer up into an
abstract arena made up of the 3D lines and logos. As I watched the
commercial, the abstract arena at the end reminded me of a Roman
Coliseum, which is exactly the effect V12 was going for - a battle
or conflict between teams which was built up over the regular
season to the playoffs, the conference finals, and finally to the
championship. ESPN wanted even more flash and sizzle for the finals
so V12 pulled out all the stops. The ability of CINEMA 4D to render
quickly, along with the network rendering capabilities, allowed
them to produce a large amount of material over just a couple of
weeks that could then be edited together in Adobe After Effects
with the player videos and clips.
As the season progressed, V12 continued to use the slick, clean
look they had developed. In fact, ESPN grabbed hold of the concept
and continued to ask for more Uber-3D in the packages. According
to David, several of their animators use Maya, Softimage, and 3D
Studio Max and they just could not replicate the Uber-3D look. As
a result, they had to bring in people who knew CINEMA 4D and who
could reproduce this new look. The ease of modeling allows them to
create a tremendous amount of volume. This gives them and their
clients a lot of choices in a very short amount of time. It also
gives the designers more time to play since they can quickly model
elements and animate it instead of being a slave to the system.
Instead of the system dictating what they could do, they were able
to come up with ideas and then quickly model what was needed,
animate it, and before you know it, youve got dozens of items to
choose from. This allows them to have a library of shapes and
animations that can be shared among the animators for a particular
project.
It always amazed me how quickly (the animators) could put
something together. A lot of times, what Ill do is the initial
design in CINEMA or Ill put everything together and model it, put
a logo in there or whatever; and that will be approved by the
client. I can usually do that really fast, like just within a day
and then well get an approval. Then Ill give that to one of the
other guys, theyll animate it and put their spin on it. That
worked out really well because it freed them up to make it look
really great without having to worry about rework and redesigns.
Because hes so hands on, David is able to get exactly what he
knows the client will want and then let the animators do what they
are best at once everything is set. To maintain consistency, David
brings the animators on board by giving them his original scene
file allowing them to see immediately what textures and light
setups he used. He follows this up with a discussion on what
Uber-3D is and the animators are literally able to run with it
from there. However, if they do happen to go overboard with ornate
3D elements for example, David is able to quickly reel them back
in. Since hes not only the director, but also the initial designer
of the project, he is able to show the animators what he is looking
for instead of them trying to interpret what hes trying to say.
The designers also collaborate and share their own scene files with
each other so that when theyve built an element a certain way, the
other animators can see how its been done and repeat it. This
collaboration and consistency spills over into other projects as
clients ask how they can get the same look for their project. V12
also comes up with additional ideas that, while they may not be
used on the current project, they can be used in other projects and
carry along some of the style from the original project. Theres
also a lot of consistency that occurs just from rendering in CINEMA
4D, theres a cleanliness and just a quality to it that is really
clean and smooth. Everything really looks professional without
breaking the bank and taking forever to render.
One question I particularly wanted to ask was how V12 determined
what tools to use for a particular project. According to David,
For a lot of the work we do, we end up using the same toolset,
After Effects and CINEMA, but if we come up with an idea such as
one project where a brain was needed and where it wasnt really
appropriate because the object required organic modeling, we ended
up outsourcing it and they modeled it in Softimage so that seemed
more appropriate for that. Of course, at the last minute, the
client needed some changes and the brain model was brought into
CINEMA 4D to add the additional footage and the look on the two
segments was a little bit different. It really depends on the
idea, but we try to set it up so that we can produce in house which
usually means that well be using the tools that we have. As a
designer, David says that he just wants to come up with an idea, do
his work, and play with his ideas, not fight the tool hes using.
CINEMA 4D works well for their needs because of the massive amounts
of versioning that they are required to put out with repeat
clients. The ease of changing elements to suit the project while
keeping continuity and brand recognition allows them to begin work
on new projects quickly and produce results in much shorter time
period. V12 http://www.v12.tv Darlisa Riggs digitalart@ev1.net
http://www.fignations.com
Create your Cinema 4D masterpieces with
products from the Renderosity MarketPlace
Check out
What's on Sale and see the
Hot New Products for more items!
Comments