FX - Wilfred Promos

To promote the new FX series “Wilfred”, starring Elijah Wood and Jason Gann, the team at FX Networks approached us to work with them to create a toolkit for use in broadcast, web, and print.  A variety of titles, character designs, and graphic styles were developed over the course of our collaboration resulting in a decidedly low-fi look that could be easily carried over to various media.
Impactist_wilfredryan_lick
The show centers on Wilfred, the new hot neighbor's dog who appears to Wood's character as a sociopathic man-dog in a grey furry suit, but as a normal dog to his owner and everyone else. Wilfred's motives are that of a dog protective of his owner while also possessing the sensibilties of a loafing, beer drinking, pot smoking, oversexed male.  During our time with FX, we explored extremely crude and coarse narratives taking cues from Wilfred’s unique character traits along with softer, more innocent canine conventions.
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We delivered four final animated sequences in addition to high resolution elements for print usage.  These projects were created using sequentially cut paper shapes, hand drawn titles and illustrations using pencil and ink, and photographed charcoal and eraser textures all later combined in the computer.
Impactist_wilfredduo
As this project was a toolkit of elements intended to be combined with other show materials, we compiled a short montage which includes the final animations and glimpses behind the scenes of our process during our collaboration with the fantastic team at FX Networks.
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Be sure and check out the "Wilfred" series premiere tonight at 10pm (June 23).  Like Spencer Tracy said, “There’s no such thing as a bad dog.” Well, except maybe Wilfred.
Montage Audio Track: "Salvo" by Impactist

Attack of the Show!

Audio Track: "L.N.G. (AOTS Remix)" by Impactist.
Link to QuickTime Version and Stills.

A while ago, G4 kindly asked us to whip up something special for the 1/11/11 reboot of their daily digest of culture and cool, Attack of the Show! Or as its known to those long hip to this daily detonation of meta-meme-messaging, simply AOTS. The G4 team was keen on elements they saw in an earlier sequence of sight and sound we had created, so we reassessed, extended, and remixed fresh live action, still photography, and animation into a new main title sequence. Additionally, we composed a new full length music track that drives the new intro and plays into the show.

The dynamic sequence serves as a striking non sequitur from what precedes it with staccato sounds and images dripping with self referential visuals only fully observed via repeat viewings.

AOTS has an incredibly intense and outspoken fan base, so the team at G4 had the incredibly tough task of making adjustments to a program that is under such extreme scrutiny. New set, new host, new show, new awesome. G4 was fantastic to work with and we appreciate the opportunity to contribute to a program that has rightly earned itself a dedicated audience that can dole out both fierce affection and loyal criticism.

Micrhomage (Community)

A micro promo that serves as an homage to the artists that inspire us. Hence, it's a Micrhomage.

"Community" is the third track off of our Last Heist EP.

Link to iphone/mobile QT movie.

Vimeo HD, SD QuickTime version, and stills.

Check back tomorrow for the final track promo "Looking For You".
Additional Last Heist Promos: 
Spheremetrical (Here With You)
The Magical Number Seven
Looking For You

Reminder: Impactist Music - Fifty Purr-cent for Pets in September. Buy any album, track, or variety of tracks at online retailers like iTunes and Amazon.com from August 27, 2010, through the month of September 2010 and we will donate 50% of the reported proceeds directly to the Oregon Humane Society located in Portland, Oregon.

The Magical Number Seven

Promo for "The Magical Number Seven" the second track off of our Last Heist EP.

Link to iphone/mobile QT movie.

Vimeo HD, SD QuickTime version, and stills.

Check back tomorrow for the video promo for Track 3: "Community".
Additional Last Heist Promos: 
Spheremetrical (Here With You)
Micrhomage (Community)
Looking For You

Reminder: Impactist Music - Fifty Purr-cent for Pets in September. Buy any album, track, or variety of tracks at online retailers like iTunes and Amazon.com from August 27, 2010, through the month of September 2010 and we will donate 50% of the reported proceeds directly to the Oregon Humane Society located in Portland, Oregon.

Spheremetrical (Here With You)

Promo for the track "Here With You" off of our Last Heist EP.

Link to iphone/mobile QT movie.

Vimeo HD, SD QuickTime version, and stills.

Check back tomorrow for the video promo for Track 2: "The Magical Number Seven".
Additional Last Heist Promos: 
The Magical Number Seven
Micrhomage (Community)
Looking For You

Reminder: Impactist Music - Fifty Purr-cent for Pets in September. Buy any album, track, or variety of tracks at online retailers like iTunes and Amazon.com from August 27, 2010, through the month of September 2010 and we will donate 50% of the reported proceeds directly to the Oregon Humane Society located in Portland, Oregon.

Hello Neighbor EP Animation Questions Answered

0impactist_pod03

We've received a number of emails asking about the small animated sampler we created for our Hello Neighbor EP using apps on the iPod Touch. And so as an exercise in efficient communications, we thought it would be best to quickly answer those questions here. There aren't really any secrets. As a wise man once said, "There's nothing to it, but to do it." As usual, he was right in this case as well.

A quick summary that answers a majority of the questions we've received:

-Frames were animated one by one the old fashioned way.
-Drawing and painting all done on the touch screen of an iPod Touch.
-Minor texture elements were imported into the frames using the 'photo' app.
-Layers were used along with the simple transparency slider provided for compositing.
-Layers were flattened and reimported due to limitations of the number of layers available.
-Frames were output for final Quicktime using AE for finishing and color adjustment since the apps could not do this themselves.
-File management was very time consuming and required a bit of trial and error to find the best approach.

Clearly, we did not set out to make a demo piece of what is possible using the touch interface of the iPod, but rather just set out to make a short sequence that would pair well with the short samples of audio we intended to showcase. Using neighboring locations sounded logical to us due to the album's musical inspiration, as did sketching source materials onsite. We did not roto or over-paint location photographs. These are original location illustrations. Combine this all with our fondness for developing new work flows with new tools and this is our result.

The device has its limitations and advantages, both technically and creatively, but what and how those affect the user are probably specific to each artist and what they bring to the table.

Much time was spent just figuring out the actual file work flow. Anyone familiar with multitrack recording and mixing down tracks to make room for more will understand what has to be done when you're working with limited layer amounts. Lots of flattening and then reimporting from the photo app to the paint app was necessary. Even just exporting the stills from the paint app to either email or for export using 'image capture' in osx required a modest amount of trial and error before figuring out and acclimating to the repetitive steps. Very repetitive steps.

Another common inquiry we've heard repeated has been, "What do you mean you created it on an iPod?" which has puzzled us a little bit. It was created on an iPod just as an animation cited as being "hand drawn" means that it was drawn by hand. The lines and paint were all created by hand. Textural elements were composited inside the device using layers and a simple 'transparency' slider. No secrets. The final frames were then uploaded to a desktop mac so we could assemble the final Quicktime file as we could not find an existing app that would let us collate and marry the audio on the iPod itself. Maybe in the near future on the iPad, but not when this promo was created.

Again, obviously this is in no way the limit of what is possible. This project was created to be visually simple to match with the melodically simple snippets of audio. Though, we look forward to further use of the iPod/iPhone/iPad touch interface as a tool if we believe it to be potentially useful in upcoming projects.

If you have one of these devices, are an artist, and do not currently have a paint app then you are sorely missing out. It really is a ton of fun. We promise! And, if you happen to find yourself at one of the locations rendered in the animation with your own touch-screen-paint-device and whip up a sketch... Send it along as we'd love to see 'em!