Ring

Want to understand the buzz around SXSW 2013? Ask Ring.

Ring is a installation project commissioned by eMuze and Learned Evolution. Ring debuted at the #FEED space for SXSW 2013.

Ring tracks Twitter and Tumblr activity for all 1800+ bands performing at SXSW Music, mapping the network of retweets and Tumblr reblogs that move initial posts through the social media world.

Ring represented a completely new way to measure how much grassroots buzz bands were getting going into SXSW – and how that changed during the festival run.

And because Ring was built from the ground up as a hardware-accelerated Chrome app, anyone in the world was able to experience Ring using a Chrome browser.

Ring presented a number of technical challenges because of the size of the data that we were visualizing; 1800+ bands blogging and being blogged about on Tumblr and … Read More »

Alluxe: Rytmus

Concept art for Alluxe’s Rytmus video.

Breakfast With UNICEF

Breakfast With UNICEF is a new series featuring incisive conversations with world leaders on the topic of women and children. We worked with UNICEF to create a show open that was globally relevant and served as a concise introduction to the series’ outlook.

Working with a truly international organization such as UNICEF was not only fun and rewarding – it also lead an interesting design challenge: what would everyone, no matter where they are, recognize as “breakfast” food?

Direction / Design: Elliot Kealoha Blanchard
3D Modeling: Gyozo Lukacs

3D Shading, Lighting, Rendering: Karoly Seiner

2D Cel and 3D Animation, Compositing: Csaba Bardos
DP: Corey Eisenstein

Camera: Anthony Segreto

Hair and Makeup: Lindsey Williams

Studio: American Movie Company
Talent: Tanyika Carey, Shannon Michael Wamser
Music: David Kamp

GE Flyovers: Destination Unknown

We recently got to work with the good folks – and fellow Dwarf Fortress enthusiasts – at The Barbarian Group on a great project for GE. They’re sending a fairly incredible mini-helicopter to GE facilities for a unique perspective on the process behind GE products.

We produced a traditional, high-end CG recreation of the helicopter – and a fully interactive, real-time 3D model that loads in your browser:

A great clip of the helicopter in action:

You can see everything at ge.com/flyovers. We’re working on getting the helicopter for our holiday party.
Creative Director: Elliot Kealoha Blanchard
Producer: Eve Strickman
Modeling: Gyozo Lukacs, Csaba Bardos
Shading, Lighting, Rendering: Karoly Seiner

UNICEF Drowning PSA (Director’s Cut)

UNICEF’s Innocenti Center asked us to help get the word out about the epidemic of childhood drowning in Asia – the number one killer of children over the age of one.

In countries like Bangladesh, children are surrounded by water, spend hours every day unsupervised by adults – and never learn to swim. UNICEF is funding innovative, low-cost, and highly effective programs to teach children how to be safe in the water.
We were honored to be involved with UNICEF’s efforts – and gratified by the success of this PSA. UNICEF is currently translating the piece into local languages to raise awareness on local TV during the upcoming monsoon season.

Vitamin Water Anthem

Another great endtag with our friends at Crispin Porter + Bogusky for Vitamin Water.
Creative Director: Elliot Kealoha Blanchard
Shading, Lighting, Rendering and Compositing: Karoly Seiner
Modeling, Texturing, Rigging and Animation: Csaba Bardos

Starwood

While at The Science Project, Elliot directed this series of animated shorts for Starwood with Nika Offenbac.

Starwood commissioned these films to educate their employees about the new LEED-certified corporate headquarters in Stamford. In addition to being a fantastic example of green design, the headquarters project was intended to better understand how Starwood could institute green practices internationally.
These shorts were part of that effort – to explain what was happening in Connecticut, and how that was relevant worldwide. Sustainability films often veer between stark boredom and sheer terror – we tried to take a different approach and present the message in a more entertaining and engaging way.

Loved by everyone at Starwood – from our client all the way to the CEO.

Nestlé Pillow Fight

While at The Science Project, Elliot lead the design effort to hatch a crazy plan for Nestlé and International Pillow Fight Day. Working with Ogilvy NY, TSP equipped 4 teams of pillow fighters with 40 custom-built impact sensors that recorded both the number of hits landed, and the force of each hit.

After covering the mayhem with 11 cameras and 70 cast and crew, TSP produced a video piece that wrapped up the whole day and revealed the winning team. The Science Project handled everything: the initial concept, fabricating the custom sensors, casting the teams, and shooting the event and producing the final video.

Almaz

Almaz is a short film which follows four Russian exiles through a chaotic night of confrontation, revenge – and rebirth. Meditative and abstract, Almaz represents a reflection on the themes of rebirth, identity, and freedom.

Almaz is also an attempt to make a film in a different way, involving the audience from the earliest stages as real creative partners.

We asked seven artists to each create a fragment of a life: Natasha’s Myspace page, Karina’s secret photographs, Marat’s possessions, The Mirror’s triptych, and more.

Next, we invited our audience to visit www.see-almaz.com to view these fragments – and to use that experience to understand our characters.

Finally, we asked our audience to create something of their own to reveal a fundamental truth about a character’s past. It could be a short story, a photograph, a video, an audio recording – anything … Read More »

TSP Experiment #1

A visual experiment for The Science Project.

Intended to be the first of a series of animated shorts on the idea of “a science project”.