CEE LO GREEN AND THE MUPPETS

S77 LENDS A CUP OF HOLIDAY MAGIC TO A MUSIC VIDEO!

S77 kicks-off the holiday season with Cee Lo Green and the timeless Muppets in the short film “All I Need Is Love.”

A winter blizzard forces Cee Lo to seek shelter in festive house packed with our favorite Muppet characters and a secret Santa. S77 was excited to work on effects shots throughout the video: enhanced blizzard effects, steam from ears, sparkles from bling, video phone screens,fireplace dust, an E.T.-style car silhouette across a full moon, and LOTS of wire/rod removals - almost 40 scenes! We also designed and animated the opening title sequences and closing credits. Mah Na Mah Na!

Directed by our friend Marc Klasfeld, produced by Nicole Acacio (Rockhard), commissioned by David Saslow (Atlantic Records and Elektra Entertainment), edited by Sunset Edit, and colored by Ntropic.

This behind-the-scenes video reveals our visual effects work.

 

Typography & Title Design Process

LONG JOHN SILVER’S LOGO ANIMATIONS

The Louisville-based agency Creative Alliance was tasked with rebranding the nationwide seafood restaurant Long John Silver’s. We worked with the agency creative team of Chase Ramirez and Judson Snell and producer Barry Zeidman to create two logo animations for broadcast and a third for the Long John Silver’s Web site. The broadcast tags had multiple variations and the online spot featured “Pip” and “Hobart”, two hushpuppy characters created by Creative Alliance.

Before the project was awarded, we were asked to pitch against a few other design studios. We created several logo tests based on the existing identity of Long John Silver’s - and combined with our existing portfolio - we were excited to learn we won the work.
First steps included boards of the live-action commercial spots provided by the agency 
to help set the mood of the logo animation.

First steps included boards of the live-action commercial spots provided by the agency 

to help set the mood of the logo animation.

Style frames establish compositional layout and are always an early part of our design process. 
After a few rounds of agency feedback, we eventually settled on a predominantly blue, wood style.

Once the style was close, we entered the test animation phase. Establishing timing and motion helped determine the final look and feel of the composition. Wood planks were modeled, textured, and animated in Cinema4d. Color correction, roto, and other effects were handled in AfterEffects.

T.I. FEAT LIL WAYNE - “BALL” (S77 CUT)

(VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED)

S77 back at it again - dropping another collaboration with music video director extraordinaire Marc Klasfeld. Shot on 16mm film in New Orleans, our direction was to take “the craziest fucking party video” and then add a visual layer to make “it totally surreal and next level.”
Rotoscope animation was always the plan, so we used Wacom Cintiq pen displays and graphic tablets to jump straight into style-frames and animation tests ranging from full-frame color pencil to isolated elements in black & white. We wanted to honor the footage by not overpowering the beautiful 16mm color film transfer and amazing high-tempo edit. With direction from Marc, as well as feedback from Atlantic Records Video Commissioner David Saslow and Emmanuelle Cuny-Panicker, we finished this video in less than 2 weeks of post-production.

PROCESS
Below is a string-out of motion tests used to develop the graphic style for “Ball.”

EARLY STYLE EXPLORATION
In the end we settled on black & white as a strong contrast to the gorgeous color film footage, but not until after we had explored a series of options. Below are some colored-pencil styleframes. 

View safe-for-work, edited version of the video that premiered on VH1.

DATES FROM HELL - OPENING TITLES

We worked closely with Director Jason Sklaver and Senior Producer Chris Gidez to create the broadcast package for "Dates From Hell," a reality show about dates that have gone horribly wrong - currently airing on Investigation Discovery.  

Process
Our first step was to board out the show open and then time things out in an animatic.

We knew that the tone of the show would be fairly dark and ominous with a palette of “wine, sex,
and death” from initial conference calls. From the start, we had in mind the perfect choice of music in Cincinnati’s own, Brothers Fighting. With a general direction and music choice, our next step was to create a title lock up for the show. 

When it came time to shoot the photographic element of the intro, we were presented with the opportunity to officially break in the S77 infinity photo sweep. Check out some behind the scenes images of the Dates From Hell photo shoot below.