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dFX Commercial
Watch:
TV Funhouse Commercial Parodies The Matrix FX
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Commercial
Credits
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CLIENT
Comedy Central
PROJECT
"Puppets"
AIRDATE
Current/Past
PRODUCTION
COMPANY
Comedy Central, NYC
Director: Eric Weisleder
Exec. Producer: Bob Pederson
Producer: Douglas Johnson
Photography: David Waterson
VISUAL
EFFECTS
iXL Digital Video Group, NYC
FX Artist: Doug Dimon
Exec. Producer: Robin Horlick
EDITORIAL
SERVICES
Comedy Central, NYC
Editor: John Fireman
Music: Digital Arts, NYC
Composer: Axel Ericson
Colorist:
Dave Gibson
Smoke Artist: Jason Sedmak
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Using
just three still cameras instead of one hundred, iXL Digital Video
Group senior visual effects artist Doug Dimon cleverly parodied
the trademark freeze-frame effect from The Matrix for a
Comedy Central "TV Funhouse" promo. The new show is
based on Robert Smigel's classic "Saturday Night Live"
"TV Funhouse" vignettes animated by J.J. Sedelmaier
Productions.
In "Puppets"
(:30, :15), an urbanite sitting in his chic living room with a
plate sushi, stares dumbfounded at his television, listening to
a voice-over, "when you were a kid cartoons were on Saturday
morning and TV puppets were friendly, caring and kind. You're
not a kid anymore." Suddenly a 180 degree camera move reveals
that he is watching "TV Funhouse." The promo ends as
the guy reverts to his truefrat-guy mentality, complete with a
Beavis & Butthead type chuckle.
"Comedy
Central wanted a wrap-around camera move that orbited the room
quickly, moving behind the actor to show what he's watching on
TV," explained Dimon. "A true camera-array effect, as
seen in the film The Matrix, involves as many as 100 separate
still images. We managed to recreate the effect with just three
photos."
Dimon, who
consulted in pre-production with Comedy Central's live-action
director Eric Weisleder, used three well-placed still cameras
that took photos to form a 180-degree circle. The digitized images
images were brought into Discreet Logic Flame where Dimon added
motion blur and morphing effects to createan appropriate sense
of movement.
"It got
a little more complicated because the client wanted an on-screen,
"You're not a kid anymore" graphic to rotate simultaneously
with the live-action," noted Dimon. "To make them rotate
simultaneously involved a considerable amount of finessing. In
the end, everyone was quite pleased with how well the effect worked,
looking cool and remaining within budget."
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About
iXL Digital Video Group
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The
iXL Digital Video Group, NYC, provides integrated video
and Internet solutions for broadcast, cable, corporate and
commercial clients. Its digital post-production facility
talent includes Emmy award-winning editors and designers
who use Flame, Avid and component digital finishing for
its digital video creativity.
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