Cal U 2011 BUILT via Little Fluffy Clouds

CLIENT & PRODUCT: CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
TITLE & LENGTH: BUILT – TRT :30 SEC
AD AGENCY: DYMUN + COMPANY, PITTSBURGH, PA

DESCRIPTION: Blue sketches appear on painted canvas. The spokes of a bicycle wheel spin. Singular watercolor images emerge from the framework of an underpainting – that gives way to richly textured architecture and foliage. A student rides forward weaving a tapestry of imagery as the campus of the California University of Pennsylvania reveals itself before his wheels. Ever advancing, buildings grow, from the imagined to the constructed.

This is the story of Built, a 30-second HDTV commercial that is the second in a continuing integrated campaign of broadcast TV, web, print and radio, crafted for the California University of Pennsylvania by Pittsburgh agency, Dymun + Company.

Built, like its companion piece, Journey, is a veritable kaleidoscope of images beautifully layered together. 2D and 3D animation are combined with hand drawn painting to recreate the texture and layered look of a traditional watercolor. In a spectacular display of animating genius, Little Fluffy Clouds creative director, Jerry van de Beek, breathes life into this moving painting.

In Built the camera moves forward with the main character creating the campus as he rides towards the new Convocation Center, which makes it’s debut in Fall, 2011. The effect of the growing color palette as it washes over the canvas to create vivid moments and fleeting glimpses of the campus is nothing less than stunning. Once more a gentle pullout transports us skyward, like a gently gliding plane, over the rooftops of newer and older buildings to lay the entire campus before us and cradle us in the crook of the river bend.

The campus, characters and shaders were created in Maya. The animation created in multiple layers and finessed using After Effects. Compositing, color correction and post was handled in-house at Little Fluffy Clouds. Built, airs on the east coast from January 2011 and will be shown locally during Super Bowl XLV.

TECHNIQUE: 2D/3D ANIMATION COMBINED WITH HAND DRAWN IMAGERY

TOOLS: MAYA, AFTER EFFECTS, PHOTOSHOP, WATER COLOR

PRODUCTION COMPANY: LITTLE FLUFFY CLOUDS / HOYTYBOY PICTURES
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Clint Goldman
DIRECTOR & DESIGNER: Jerry van de Beek
PRODUCER & DESIGNER: Betsy De Fries

ANIMATION, COMPOSITING & POST: LITTLE FLUFFY CLOUDS
ANIMATION DIRECTOR: Jerry van de Beek
DESIGNER/PRODUCER: Betsy de Fries
MODELS & ANIMATION: Jerry van de Beek
DIGITAL COMPOSITING: Jerry van de Beek

SOUND DESIGN/MUSIC: BIG SCIENCE MUSIC Jay Green

AGENCY: DYMUN + COMPANY
ECD: John Dymun
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Craig Otto
COPY WRITER: Jim Anderson
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: Mac McKay
PRODUCER: Lisa Long

Tags: 2D, Animation