Billy Hughes was the Prime Minister of Australia during the turbulent years of WW1. Hughes is remembered for controversially splitting the Labor party over the issue of mandatory conscription and having the public throw an egg at him . Famously arguing with US President Woodrow Wilson by defending Australia’s post war reparation deal abroad and improvised by signing the Peace Treaty of Versailles with a diggers rising sun button. The challenge of this TVC was to capture this colourful life and historic subject matter within thirty seconds whilst making it entertaining but also being respectful to the era and people of the time. ‘Billy Hughes at War’ extends the strong visual brand style developed in the first four OPH ads by drawing on WW1 propaganda posters, and is a fun, quirky and engaging animated TVC, we hope will intrigue and inspire a large audience to attend the exhibition.

“Winning at WorldFest is a great testament to the hard work and dedication that our team continue to put in at Eye Candy day in day out, we love what we do and it really comes through in our work. We’ve also been lucky enough to have some pretty brave clients that let us push the boundaries”.

In total Eye Candy was awarded three of the highest category based awards with Platinum REMI award wins for its animated television commercials for the Old Parliament House which it worked in collaboration with ZOO Advertising, these included; A Platinum REMI award in the ’series/campaign’ category for all four Old Parliament House animated television commercials, a second Platinum REMI award for the ‘Talking Walls’ commercial in the ‘institutional identity’ category and a third Platinum REMI award in the ‘Low Budget’ category for the ‘Mrs Prime Minister’ exhibition commercial. Eye Candy also collected a Silver REMI award for the ‘Tertiary Open Day 2007′ ad which it collaborated on with CRE8IVE, a Silver REMI for ActewAGL Energy Shop’s ‘Heat & Ice Age’ ad which it collaborated on with Ken Buchan of ZOO Advertising, a Bronze REMI for local gym Club Lime’s calypso dancing ‘Gymmy’ commercial produced in conjunction with Bearcage and a Silver REMI for Eye Candy’s short film ‘The Bee’s Knees’.

The International Film Festival that is WorldFest, is the oldest Independent Film & Video Festival in the World. Founded 48 years ago as Cinema Arts, an International Film Society in August, 1961, WorldFest evolved into a competitive International Film Festival in April, 1968 and became the third most competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York. WorldFest offers competition categories in TV Production, Documentary, Corporate & Business Films, Student & Experimental, TV Commercials, Film & Video Production, Music Videos, New Media (Interactive & Web Sites), Screenplays, Print and Radio. With more than 4,500 category entries received from 37 countries in 2007, WorldFest is the incorporation of 12 Major film & video competitions into one event. With 12 major competitions and the 200+ sub-categories, WorldFest gives out a lot of awards, but they are both earned and deserved. No awards are given in any category unless the scores from the juries are high enough to place for honours. Overall only 15-20% of the total category entries actually win an award at WorldFest.

Eye Candy previously won a Silver REMI award at the 2006 WorldFest for its work on the animated TVC which launched Canberra’s internet service provider, Grapevine. Check out our portfolio page to see our award winning work!

Through Australia’s largest game cinematic producer Plastic Wax, we were contracted to model and rig this SWAT character which was planned to be used in the “action-shoot’em-up” video game - Ronin Mercinary’s (later released as Kane & Lynch) by Eidos Interactive. In creating this SWAT character we were asked develop a cloth and hair pipeline for the SWAT and other characters. Kane & Lynch was eventually released onto the Xbox, PlayStation and PC platforms and sold over one million copies worldwide.

Eye Candy turned this funny 2D hippo comic character into a realistic 3D character that will be used as the seed to a feature length animated movie. Hairbutt the Hippo is a comic book series developed by Jason Paulos of Rat Race Comics and is the story of a nasty tempered and hygienically impaired hippopotamus who makes a living as a private detective feeding off the misfortunes and misadventures of hippies, magicians and mobsters. We created and rigged Hairbutt to look like he had just gotten off the beach and was taking a quick shower to wash the salt off, only to be surprised by one of the local crabs!

Eye Candy was contracted by Promotion Studios to turn their ‘Genie’ character design into a realistic 3D character for the 15th Asian Games which was held in Doha, Qatar and featured 46 disciplines and 39 events with 45 member nations competing. The opening and closing ceremonies were directed by David Atkins Enterprises with Spinifex Interactive producing the AV content in conjunction with Promotion Studios. Working with Promotions illustrations we created and rigged the ‘Genie’ character which was eventually displayed during the opening ceremony on the largest ever, custom-designed LED screen (approx 100 meters). The unforgettable ceremony was viewed by over 100,000 people at the stadium ground and captivated over 3 billion viewers across the world in the greatest spectacle that Asia has ever seen.

After the success of the Warner Bros’ supernatural film Constantine, developer Bits Studios teamed up with publisher THQ to create an “action-shoot-’em-up” video game adaption which followed the movie’ plot and character design. Through Australia’s largest game cinematic producer Plastic Wax, we were contracted to model and rig this demonic character which appeared in the film and was used in cinematic scenes throughout the game. This demon character was created using images of the maquette used in the film as reference. Eye Candy also developed cloth and hair for the cinematic. The highly successful game was launched onto Xbox, PlayStation, PC and eventually a mobile version was also created.

To launch ActewAGL’s new 25% off ‘Bundles’ discount we partnered with Grey WorldWide Canberra to produce a 30 second TVC to promote the new discounted offering to the Canberra region. Using custom built shaders we devised a style which gave an illustrative, fun and youthful feel to the TVC. The approach to sound design gave the impression that the main character had wandered up the side of a hill away from a carnival or sideshow. Blending this new visual style with the carnival like sound design enabled the straight forward retail message of ActewAGL’s 25% off “Bundles” promotion to be communicated in an entertaining and light-hearted way. The bonus is that there is nothing else quite like it on TV.

The international awards, which are the only ones of their kind in Australia, highlight excellence in animation and effects and have entrants ranging from major motion picture studios to student work. Other companies shortlisted alongside Eye Candy include MPC (of “Batman Begins”, “Harry Potter” and “Da Vinci Code”) and The Lab (of “Dirty Deeds”, “Fat Pizza” and “McLeods Daughters”)

Working collaboratively with Bearcage Productions, the task for the Club Lime commercial was to design an animated character that would reflect the fun, energetic and easy going nature of the Club Lime brand. From this Gymmy, (pronounced Jimmy with a Jamaican accent) was born and has become the hero character of the Club Lime brand and television commercial.

The second finalist listing for this years AEFA awards was for Eye Candy’s short film, The Bees Knees. The story revolves around a young boy and his dog as they set off on an afternoon adventure in the countryside and find themselves in some light-hearted mischief when they come across a buzzing bee. The style of the animation uses very bright colours, characters made up of simple shapes and movements best described as silly to engage quickly with young children.

Checkout the portfolio page of our website to see the full version of ”The Bees Knees” and our Jamaican gym instructor, Gymmy from the Club Lime commercial. To view the full list of 2007 AEAF Award winners, click here.

Bearcage productions was commissioned to produce an interstitial series for Foxtel known as ‘Icons – Our heroes. Our Stories’. The series told the stories of famous Australian’s, from Barry Crocker to Christine Anu and many more.
Working in partnership with Bearcage, Eye Candy produced the opening animated title sequence. Our artists created a landscape comprised of 3D text elements and Australian landmarks as the background, with sweeping camera moves carrying the viewer in and around the real Australian icons – our heroes.

In collaboration with ZOO Advertising, Eye Candy produced a series of 15 second TVC’s for leading Canberra hardware store Magnet Mart. Each 15 second TVC formed part of Magnet Mart’s new ‘Start Smart’ advertising campaign with each of the four 15 second spots describing a unique benefit of Magnet Mart’s expert service and advice. So if you’ve got a favourite colour that you want to paint your house with, maybe it’s the same as your child hood teddy bear? Well now you can match it at Magnet Mart!

Check out the other Magnet Mart TVCs:

– How-to Workshops
– Quality Help
– Wood/Cutting Saw

In collaboration with ZOO Advertising, Eye Candy produced a series of 15 second TVC’s for leading Canberra hardware store Magnet Mart. Each 15 second TVC formed part of Magnet Mart’s new ‘Start Smart’ advertising campaign with each of the four 15 second spots describing a unique benefit of Magnet Mart’s expert service and advice. So if you’re looking for the largest range of timber and need it cut to precision, then Start Smart at Magnet Mart!

Check out the other Magnet Mart TVCs:

– How-to Workshops
– Quality Help
– Favourite Colour

In collaboration with ZOO Advertising, Eye Candy produced a series of 15 second TVC’s for leading Canberra hardware store Magnet Mart. Each 15 second TVC formed part of Magnet Mart’s new ‘Start Smart’ advertising campaign with each of the four 15 second spots describing a unique benefit of Magnet Mart’s expert service and advice. So if you’re looking for the Good, Better and Best of hardware products and services, Start Smart at Magnet Mart!

Check out the other Magnet Mart TVCs:

– How-to Workshops
– Wood/Cutting Saw
– Favourite Colour

In collaboration with Zoo Advertising, Eye Candy produced a series of 15 second TVC’s for leading Canberra hardware store Magnet Mart. Each 15 second TVC formed part of Magnet Mart’s new ‘Start Smart’ advertising campaign with each of the four 15 second spots describing a unique benefit of Magnet Mart’s expert service and advice. So if you have a leaky tap or cistern why not Start Smart and get on down to Magnet Mart!

Check out the other Magnet Mart TVCs:

– Quality Help
– Wood/Cutting Saw
– Favourite Colour

Using 3D animated shadow puppets to convey various course areas, this TVC concept for CIT was created with the aim of reaching, engaging and entertaining a wide range of people, from first time workers, those seeking a career change or advancement, or those looking to re-enter the workforce after a break.
Due to the requirement to get this TVC completed and on air before the New Year enrolment period started, our artists pulled all stops and completed this fully animated 30 second TVC within an extremely quick 3 week period.

Like a friendly haunted house this ad takes a tour through the Old Parliament House (OPH) revealing all the characters, history and secrets the house has to offer. Once inside the realm of OPH as conceived and written and by Ken Buchan of ZOO Advertising, you find yourself in Kings Hall surrounded by the portraits of all the past Prime Ministers and the statue of King George, who has a slight movement, tapping his bronze toe much to the annoyance of a loitering journalist’s elbow as he tries to jot down notes on his pad and paper.

We then move towards the portrait of Bob Hawke and magically the oil painting gives a faint smile and subtle wink. Our view sweeps around from a distance to the other portraits and notice that they all have this subtle movement. You see a young Queen Elizabeth II walk past as the gaze from the portraits follows her.

On approach to the opening of the House of Reps you begin to hear passionate voices of past debates from key moments in history. Real samples of audio from the House of Reps during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s were included in this scene. Creative director Rachael Johnson says “I love to create things that engage a viewer and these subtle little additions really help to do that.”

Many prominent political figures can be seen through out this commercial including the longest serving Labour PM Hawke vigorously arguing with the longest serving Liberal PM Menzies. As the camera travels through an ornate vent and races down a corridor it passes a security officer who leaps up from his seat after us, as we reach a closed door that reads Prime Minister’s Office. The commercial ends as we tantalisingly travel through a fish eye lens leading into the PM’s office.

Animator Drew Kennewell who modelled the security guards leap and chase movements said “it was great to also be able to learn so much about this iconic piece of Australian history, it really is one of those places that you just need to stand still in for awhile to take it all in.” Produced in conjunction with OPH’s graphic design provider ZOO Advertising over a period of 2 months, the commercial will go to air on 9 September 2007 and run for a period of 2 years, as part of campaign to increase awareness that OPH is open and there are continually new attractions for visitors to experience. Marketing and Communications Manager, Nicolle Keyes says staff and volunteers of OPH have embraced the brand and television commercial “Everyone loves the ad!!!! They all feel proud to be a part of OPH because of the ad. Thanks again for such a great job!!!!” For more information on OPH you can visit www.oph.gov.au

This is the fourth in a series of highly successful television commercials for Canberra’s Old Parliament House (OPH) and is part of a campaign to increase awareness of the new attractions for visitors to experience.

Like a friendly haunted house this ad takes a tour through OPH revealing all the characters, history and secrets the house has to offer from the Kings Hall where you’re surrounded by the portraits of all the past Prime Ministers, to the House of Reps where you hear the passionate voices of past debates from key moments in history including Hawke vigorously arguing with Menzies. The commercial ends peering tantalisingly through a fish eye lens into the PM’s office.

With his best pal by his side, a young boy and his dog set off on an afternoon adventure in the countryside instead of finishing their chores. In true ‘Huck Finn’ style the pair immediately find themselves in some light-hearted mischief when they come across a buzzing bee. One thing leads to another and the next the bee knows, he’s lost his bumblebee pants and is left very much as one with nature.

Sound design plays a large and important part of this short film to tell the story as the lead characters have very little dialogue. The style of the animation uses very bright colours, characters made up of simple shapes and movements best described as silly to engage quickly with young children.

With an incredibly tight turnaround of just two weeks until the commercial was to go to air, the University looked to Eye Candy for a solution that could be produced within the timeframes to promote its open day.

‘Bruce’ is shown hurdling his way through life at university, experiencing all the challenges of study and social life, graduating and landing a well paid job in the end. A clever technical solution was created by our Senior Animators to create a looping environment with the addition of assets coming in and out of the scene. The design team kept working on the assets well into the animation phase and literally dropped them into the scene as they were completed.

For a second year a simple concept and character named ‘TOD’ has helped build awareness with a very hard-to-reach target audience. Encouraging school leavers, mature age and graduate students from across Australia to attend the Canberra Tertiary Open Day, which is a collaboration between Canberra’s five tertiary institutions (CIT, ADFA, ANU, UC and ACU).

TOD is a neutral, ageless and genderless character, designed to represent anyone interested in attending university. TOD has varied interests and is seen performing different activities and juggling items he might need. His activities communicate the key message ‘every thing you need in just one day’.

In the new distinctive style we had devised and for which the client had now become famous, we created an animated TVC for the exhibition that reveals the powerful and poignant story of what life was like for Australians during one of the most challenging periods in our history.

Comprehensive research into the history, events, clothing, objects and architecture of Australia at the time as well as the personal letters, diaries, depression-crafted objects and photographs that featured in the exhibition blended together to create a richly evocative and uplifting snapshot of Australia in tough times.

How do you fashion a Jamaican character, teaching him to dance properly and just be cool? You spend a lot of time drinking Jamaican rum and dancing terribly in front of a mirror while the rest of the studio laughs aloud at you.

While the process was a little bit more sophisticated than the ‘dancing in front of a mirror’, the essence of the character design and actions came from the motivations an easy going but energetic Jamaican gym instructor would have. With this Gymmy, (pronounced Jimmy with a Jamaican accent) was born and has become the hero character of the Club Lime brand and television commercials.

How do you capture the dresses, accessories, trophies, sceptres, sparkling tiara and crown that over many decades used to add up to our idea of the ideal Australian woman?

You call upon your 3D animation experience in creating cloth and hair assets for high-end game cinematics. We meticulously designed four separate sets of costumes, hairstyles and body shapes to take the character through four eras of Miss Australia. The costumes feature highly realistic cloth simulations that move naturally with the animated characters’ body movements. She’s never looked lovelier.

This stylised, contemporary, graphic animation launched TransACT’s new ISP, Grapevine.

Entirely computer-generated, this one-shot, fluid animation projects zooming particles to create the Grapevine logo and denote the blistering speed and large download capacity of the product. Complex stuff like a volumetrically lit, translucent shader was used to achieve the look of the liquid-like particles that was both simple in design and rich in appearance. Fast, juicy and at the time the sharp end of cutting edge.

We develop a new style for this client using a full 3D environment and animation to achieve sharp cut through in a very crowded retail advertising landscape.

Set in the Stone Age and featuring prehistoric characters that struggle against the elements, the ads live the script line - “Mankind has always been at the mercy of the weather, but the way we cope with it doesn’t have to stay primitive.”

We constructed a 30 second animatic that allowed an efficient cutdown to 3 different 15 second versions along with a set of assets that could be transferred to both hot and cold environments, saving the client time and money. Fun, funky and unlike anything else on the box at the time.

This project required recreating the cramped, squalid and frenetic character of the offices, corridors and gallery from where Australia’s major political events, scandals, leaks and scoops were reported. In that place nothing was sacred.

Based on the distinctive new style we created for the client’s previous exhibition, we used the extensive photography and drawings made on our site tour of the location, as well as historical materials to create an animated TVC that was as cheeky, pacey and vividly reminiscent of the era.

For this entertaining and insightful exhibition we created a blended graphic and visual style described as “Desperate Housewives meets Dame Pattie Menzies”. Historic photos and exhibition imagery such as Lady Sonia McMahon’s infamous White House dress, romantic love letters from Joe and Enid Lyons and a Shanghai slingshot used by Pattie Menzies, were brought to life with engaging 3D animation and effects. 

Fast, fun and distinctive, the rich visual effect used an electronic montage of “cardboard cut-out” style assets that were then given added depth through the use of 3D animation and special post-production effects.

Stocks and Sergi will join forces again after recently completing a television commercial for the University of Canberra’s Open Day that helped achieve strong numbers for the event. Sergi who is well known in the Canberra community brought Eye Candy the opportunity to do a new television commercial for the Citizens Advice Bureau that will highlight the services programs.

The Citizens Advice Bureau has been serving the Canberra community for over 25 years, building on the rich heritage of Citizens Advice Bureaus (CAB) going back to 1939. The CAB believe that community services and facilities are only as effective as people’s access to them and therefore it is essential that people are made aware of their options, rights and responsibilities when needing to access the services available.

Stocks says “being part of the community is about supporting the community when it needs it, if Eye Candy can help increase the profile of the CAB through this advertisement, it’s not only a good thing for the CAB, it’s a good thing for Eye Candy too.”

A simple, but effective concept using a combination of live footage, design and animation will see members of the community star in the commercial and reinforce the CAB’s key messages when production is finished.

Michael Sergi lectures in film and television production at the University of Canberra. As a freelance television director Sergi worked for over 15 years in Australia and New Zealand, and directed many well-known television dramas, such as Home & Away, Neighbours, Shortland Street, Pacific Drive and Breakers. Sergi was a co-founder and the artistic director of the Canberra International Film Festival, now in its eight year. He was also a founding member of the ACT Film and Television Council, and is currently Vice-Chair.

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Engagement) Professor Deborah Ralston said the ad was all about the consistent message the University was trying to send to students. “That is, come to the University of Canberra and you’ll have a great experience – but also be ready for your career from the day you graduate,” Professor Ralston said.

Creative Director Rachael Johnson executed this concept using a character called ‘Bruce’ who is a new student at the university. He is shown hurdling his way through life at university, experiencing all the challenges of study and social life, but when the pressure comes on at the end, he handles his exams, graduating and landing a well paid job.

Eye Candy worked with director Michael Sergi, a film and television lecturer at the University who actually taught some Eye Candy staff many years ago. Mr Sergi said staff and students at the University who had seen a preview had found the ad “imaginative, real and funny”.

The style of the commercial was to have a slightly stylised cartoon look for the visuals, a strong music track and a strong audio effects track. A clever technical solution was created by our Senior Animators to create a looping environment that would allow the background and the track to be developed quickly once and then keep looping with the addition of assets coming in and out of the scene. This allowed the animation component of the project to be started much earlier and have the design team keep working on the assets well into the animation phase and literally drop them into the scene as they were being finished.

“It has cut-through and better still, it directly conveys to young people how exciting and enriching university life can be,” Mr Sergi said. “We sometimes forget to tell people that.”

All of Eye Candy’s systems and processes were thoroughly tested on this project along with our team, many of who stayed bunkered down in the studio for 10 days and nights to meet the tough deadline the client was faced with.

“The University needed leading, professional filmmakers to produce this ad… The production values and animation quality are extremely high for a relatively low-budget production. I have no doubt it will be among some of the best work on prime time television.” Professor Ralston said.

Eye Candy’s eight person team on these projects were lead by creative directors Rachael Johnson and Damian Stocks. Rachael Johnson says Eye Candy’s recent success has been a result of “working with some courageous clients who were prepared to back the idea’s of our creative team and allow us to try some new things that hadn’t been done before”.

Nicolle Keyes the Marketing Manager of Old Parliament House agrees and says, “I think we have a great partnership between OPH, ZOO Advertising and Eye Candy going and I look forward to winning many more awards with it.”

To produce award-winning work Rachael says “my Co-Creative Director, Damian Stocks and I have spent a lot of time finding and developing our team so that we have a good mix of talented generalists each with one or two specialty niche skills. This sort of diversity has become a real strength for us in Canberra and with the recognition of our work nationally and overseas”.

Damian Stocks says, “we’ve been able to do some great work we’re really proud of lately with renown Creative Director Ken Buchan, who is working in Canberra now for ZOO Advertising. He’s been able to push our guys creatively and at the same time support us in getting there.”

“Over the last 12 months we’ve also spent a lot of time in refining our internal systems and processes to better manage our business, people and deliverables for our projects. This has meant our clients have been able to get the maximum value from their investment with us and we’ve been able to concentrate on doing great work for them.”

The awards celebrate excellence in design and communication in the museum and collections sector across Australia. “There were some fantastic entries from prominent cultural institutions throughout Australia… so winning a “Highly Commended Award” for these two ads under a multimedia category was a great achievement for us” Nicolle stated.

“Having Matt join our management team allows Rachael and I to concentrate on doing great creative work for our clients without having to worry about running the business also. Over the last 12 months we’ve spent a lot of time in refining our internal systems and processes to better manage our business, people and deliverables for our projects. Matt will have a key role in this going forward and our clients will be able to get the maximum value from their investment with us.” Founding partner and Creative Director Damian Stocks says.

Matt’s strengths are in managing client relationships, agency and production processes, strategic communication marketing and brand management. He was instrumental in the development of LDA’s flagship campaigns for Wells Station, Ginninderra Ridge, Kingston Foreshore, Gungahlin Town Centre, Hillside, Bridgewater, Jenolan House, Brindabellas Bonython, First Edition, Kingston Foreshore, Metros, the Corporate brand and a number of commercial releases including Epicentre at Fyshwick. LDA had excellent results with their brand awareness and sales campaigns with demand for products far exceeding supply. LDA attributed most of this outstanding success to ZOO’s marketing campaigns.

Over three and half years at ZOO he also managed a number of key projects for Australian Pharmacy Group, Goodwin Aged Care Services, Snowy Hydro South Care helicopter, Defence Housing Australia, SupaBarn, Woden Plaza, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Australian Bureau of Statistics, Department of Defence – Environment & Heritage, Department of Immigration Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs, Magnet Mart, Academy Nightclub and Lease Plan.

“Matt has been with us over 3 years and has done a superb job in managing a number of clients, notably LDA who he has helped nurture & grow since day one… It is with a sense of sadness I announce that he is stepping away from his current role and into a new and exciting challenge with Eye Candy.” ZOO Partner and Client Service Director, Ashley Morgan said.

Matt holds a Bachelor of Communications and a Masters Degree in Marketing Communication. Prior to ZOO, Matt worked for five years on a range of communication projects for high profile organisations including BBC London, the NRL, Foster’s Group, Perisher Blue Ski Resort, Fox Sports, the PGA Tour and Centrelink. He will commence with Eye Candy in a transitional capacity in March before taking up his role full time in April.

The magazine placed Eye Candy in the same company as, and we quote … “El Ranchito from Madrid and their beautiful new work for Honda, Motion Logix from Beijing and their kinetic new take on basketball kicks, Ruff Mercy and Blac Ionica from London and their new broadcast design clips, and Bug from Norway with their fabulous exploding lemmings.”

The brief to Eye Candy from Old Parliament House and ZOO’s Creative Director was basically ‘A day in the life of a Press Gallery journalist’ to show how journalists back then had closer access to politicians than they do now at the new Parliament House. They had a love-hate relationship with politicians because they would use any means possible to report the news, through leaks, scoops and ultimately scandals. They all worked in incredibly close quarters upstairs behind the House of Reps, they stalked the corridors and often listened in on secret discussions through air vents and even in the toilets - nothing was sacred! And of course their deadlines were never ending and hectic.

The visual style of the first television advertisement, ‘Mrs Prime Minister’ was embraced with the unique electronic montage of cardboard cut-out like assets. These were created using material sources from the corridors, press rooms and journalists through out the last century. The visual style was again given added depth through the use of 3D animation and special post production effects including computer generated smoke, global illumination and 3D motion blur.

The team are brilliant, instinctive and incredibly thorough, they took extensive photographs of objects that are unique to Old Parliament House; such as the red and green lights that signal which house is in session. They painstakingly cut out different members of the Press Gallery from old ‘annual classroom style’ photographs and created bodies for them as well as recreating each and every room in the Gallery and the House of Reps to perfection. Their interpretation of the script was spot on and the typewriter scenario was art directed overnight on one or two occasions, showing a commitment to the job that is exceptional. You guys are great and thank heavens you are in Canberra.” - Ken Buchan, Creative Director, ZOO Advertising.

Thanks for the kind words Ken, (the bottle of scotch is on its way over now as promised.)

The international awards, which are the only ones of their kind in Australia, highlight excellence in animation and effects and have entrants ranging from major motion picture studios to student work.

Other companies shortlisted alongside Eye Candy include the Oscar and BAFTA winning Animal Logic (of “Lord of the Rings”, “Matrix” and “Moulin Rouge”); Oscar, BAFTA and Emmy award winning, Framestore (of “Walking with Dinosaurs” and “Harry Potter”); and Digital Pictures/Iloura (of “Holden Monaro - Game Over” and “Visa Piggybank” TVC’s).

The task was to design an animated television commercial following the newly created brand, using mood frames supplied by ZOO’s graphic designers.

The solution was a completely computer generated advertisement that features the particles that make up the logo zooming around denoting the blistering speed and large download capacity of Grapevine. One of the technical challenges was the production of the unique ‘one shot’ fluid animation in a visual style similar to a ‘zero-g liquid jelly’. Gravity was applied the various elements to make it look more realistic and provided flexibility to automate the fluid movement. A secondary animation control was layered over this to give a subtle overshoot of secondary motion.

The final render of the animation consisted of a volumetrically lit translucent shader to achieve a mix between jelly and mercury, creating a look to the globs that was both simplistic in design yet rich in appearance.

2007 – HIGHLY COMMENDED
Museums Australia Multimedia and Publication Design Awards - Multimedia