This is the second group of commercials we’ve done for the Game Show Network, the first being the World Winner Scrabble Cubes spot. We’ve taken these ads in a sixties pop-art inspired motion graphics direction which feels like a natural evolution of the 50s style of Scrabble Cubes.

Play scrabble online and be glamourous in a sassy sixties style.

This was one of those rare jobs where the client doesn’t have a specific idea in mind and they leave it up to us to write, design and produce the ad. We came up with the 50′s fashion theme as a way to tie into the nostalgia of this classic boardgame and I love the way the 2d animation and design works with the 3d cubes.

The 2d design and animation for this spot was done with a combination of flash, illustrator, photoshop and after effects. Bruce Alcock, Paul Boyd and Celest Brown all had a hand in the design.

credits:

Directed by: Nathaniel Akin
Production: Global Mechanic
Creative Director: Bruce Alcock
Producer: Matthew Charde
Animation: Nathaniel Akin, Celest Brown, Paul Boyd
Agency: Almighty

Random technical geekery: This was an interesting project because its the first time I’ve tried to do full 3d within after effects. I’ve always run into issues translating 3d camera moves from maya into aftereffects and was looking for a way around this which prompted us to buy the zaxwerks 3d invigorator plugin.

This plugin has some interesting potential for integrating full 3d into aep projects. Its mainly limited to static 3d objects, but it allows you to import meshes from maya as well as a few other 3d formats and control lighting and camera within after effects. Updating and previewing imported 3d objects is sluggish, particularly once you start adding lights, etc. – fortunately you can parent the objects to simple solid proxies enabling you to preview camera movement and animation quickly. Though its not perfect, the zaxwerks 3d plugin can be quite handy and I can definately see using it in the future, particularly for basic 3d projects when working with animators who are familiar with the aftereffects camera, but not any ‘full 3d’ software.