Shilo: Under Armour “ColdGear, Lindsey Vonn + Dick’s”

The creative forces of Shilo strike again, this time to simulate extreme cold weather conditions for Under Armour, with Dicks Sporting Goods as the testing grounds.

With the goal of promoting Under Armour’s ColdGear product line, Shilo enlisted the talents of its growing creative arm, We Make It Good, and its creative director, Clayton Vomero, who co-wrote the spot’s script with Shilo Creative Director Andre Stringer.

Stringer and Vomero built a narrative around a Cold Abuse Simulator, which tests ColdGear under harsh downhill ski racing conditions. Two-time World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn, one of the most successful American ski racers in history, was enlisted as the ultimate test subject.

Co-Creative Director Noah Conopask was faced with the challenge to create the action of Vonn facing the Cold Abuse Simulator and make it as realistic as possible.  Noah and crew found a factory location in Los Angeles and worked with Vonn for two days, filming her on a jostling rig before a giant apparatus that simulated the conditions she’d face on the mountain.

Seemless vfx integration and a solid storyline makes this a campaign to keeps your eyes on. Be sure to check out the making of video via the ski channel, as well as more behind the scenes production stills, courtesy of NBC Olympics.

Flairs – Truckers Delight

I wouldn’t exactly label this as highbrow, more like highfun! It’s pretty crazy and leans heavily on the raunchier side of life. Directed by Jérémie Périn.

Definitely NSFW, but probably worth getting fired for!

Elastic / A52: Honda Accord “Instruments”

Design and VFX team Elastic/A52 rock out for Honda Accord in this highly colorful CG jazz spot, as they show off how much hidden space the new Accord Crosstour really offers.

Appealing to a younger, musically-minded target market, its aesthetic and general concept hits a home run. Design-wise, the palette is alive with energy and pop and the beautifully animated characters have a unique look that works an interesting transitional device.

(Geek Alert!) The Esquire AR Issue

While many other motion studios try to find their way to the interactive future, Psyop teamed up with the digital aces at The Barbarian Group and went there.

The Esquire Augmented Reality issue hit US newsstands Tuesday with a raft of interactive vignettes that employ augmented reality (AR) to bring classic Psyopian illustrations up from the printed page.

The Barbarian Group conceived of the project and it’s their custom nerd voodoo that powers the Psyop-made content featuring cover boy Robert Downey Jr., actor Jeremy Renner and hottie Gillian Jacobs.

Do you read, view or play with the issue? All of the above. It’s like print, motion and interactive media got a little loose together and – bow chicka wow wow! – birthed this futuristic love child.

The experience requires a download from the Esquire site and a physical copy of the December 2009 issue. Or does it? Some clever Googling may get you to at least some of the AR markers.

Lorenzo Fonda updates

Lorenzo Fonda updates his site with some great work including this great video that documents Warp Records 20th Anniversary Event in NYC this past fall.

Also, dont miss out on his great list of stuff to live by. Shel Silverstein would be proud.

Bluemotion

Director Yani and Paul Postma of hazazaH and DDB Amsterdam bring us these wonderfully minimal spots for Volkswagen. A cut out tree here a spot light there, two circles and voilà! You have yourself a scene. Straight to the point with no frills and a few creatives twists to take them out of the ordinary and into something special. Appropriate for the agency (DDB) and the client (Volkswagen) that created the famous “Think Small” campaign.

Nick Scott Studio: “The Google Story”

Nick Scott Studio pieces together the history of Google, in The Google Story.