PandaPanther for (you guessed it) Zune Arts

72andSunny (okay okay, and Microsoft) have become the official patron saints of motion graphics and animation for 2007, thanks in large part to the Zune Arts campaign, which continues to fund fantastic short films like PandaPantha’s new “Masks.”

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“Masks” perfectly blends cuteness, pscyhedelia and narrative, a heady concoction that manages to communicate the campaign’s theme of sharing without feeling forced. Directors Jonathan Garin and Naomi Nishimura had me grinning a boyish little grin for pretty much the entire length of the spot.

(The music for “Masks,” by the way, is “Young Dead Men” by The Black Angels.)

If you take a spin through the recently revamped Zune Arts site, you’ve got to admit that 72andSunny has done a bang-up job picking diverse studios with fresh takes on the campaign. Their curatorial powers alone deserve praise.

Check out PandaPanther’s site for some more great work. They’re a young studio, but they’ve got a fun portfolio full of distinctive work.

UPDATE: Full credits available here.

About the author

Justin Cone

/ justincone.com
Together with Carlos El Asmar, Justin co-founded Motionographer, F5 and The Motion Awards. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with is wife, son and fluffball of a dog. Before taking on Motionographer full-time, Justin worked in various capacities at Psyop, NBC-Universal, Apple, Adobe and SCAD.

25 Comments

ev

This is dope, great job.
I like this band too…

hans

haha!! yesss :)
great idea + lovely execution = smile on my face

THA_DON

really really good, too bad about the music.
loving it

Simon Robson

Absolutely f@#cking brilliant. So strong off of every angle; design, concept, narrative, animation, render. PP are certainly turning into a force to be reckoned with.

Marc B.

I can imagine the budget for this one was only like 100k or 200k while the one for oranvagina was 1mio or something and i like this one here much better.

Anyhow, big props to 72andsunny for exploiting cool studios for a shitty product. At least we have our fun.

monovich

yeah that put a smile on my face (the psychedelic scenes!).

p.s. the 2.0 zune has been getting better reviews than first one… maybe the hate is a little overblown?

rothermel

@ Marc B.
you gotta tell me where you work while youre in college, the lattes must be amazing!

brandj

This is an awesome spot. Congrats to PP! Nice job.

mate

Really nice! Big up PP! Amazing that you could use your psychedelic styles in an ad! ;)
@simon: nice idea with the highlighting in the comments via mailto:

TheTofuFactory

Wow. Great technique and amazing work over all. As much as I hate the Zune as a product, I love the marketing. It has made me question a Zune purchase a few times already.

mutanthands

super awesome, give yourselves a big pat on the back PP :)

nosuch

kick ass spot. well done.
BUT. didn’t anyone find the similarity to mark osborne’s MORE short?
https://www.gethappy.com/watchmore.html
the part where he puts his goggles on and he sees the world with another perspective.. well, i’m sorry, i’m just being picky here. maybe it was just unconscious inspiration, that happens to me a lot as well.
but apart from that, again, great job guys!

kmfix

There’s a reference to almost EVERYTHING in this thing… Even Monty Python’s Holy Grail…

I droppin’ a tab and watching it again…

oeuf

Thas some good sh!t right there!
Great work PandaPanther!
Anyone got a list of credits for the crew on this?

rand_mcnally

excellent made my day thanks!

r3awak3n

The spot is awesome, a lot of good stuff at zune arts.
And the new Zune is actually pretty good, the menu is great, doesnt lag at all like the new ipod and its available at a competitive price.

THA_DON

The comments on this site are really amusing.

Hell, this is the best spot done in last last 60 years!!!! BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ASTONISHINGLY RAD!!!!!!!!!!
Who calls for Nobel Prize?!!! I DO!!!! BREATHTAKING DESIGN!!!!

babby

you heard the man guys, time to switch modes again, miserable bored seen-it-all graphic designers are back in fashion. yeah. you like stuff? i remember liking stuff. BACK IN 2006

TheTofuFactory

Tha Don, Babby – you guys jealous at all?

bicycleman

Tight on so many levels. GREAT JOB!!!!

babby

that was sarcasm, i was speaking in defense of the spot, TofuFactory

a

what song was this anyway

Lightweaver

whatever, I’m with the don.
I thought that piece had ‘forced’ written all over it.
too easy. The visuals, great. I’m just so sick of little boy fighting videos and matrix revamps. I mean, come on, lets take it to the limit if you’ve got the hardware and brainware to make something look that good.

tiekwan

I like the concept man. It all looks cool to me. Good 3d people on the Panda Panther team too.

Comments are closed.