West Hollywood-based visual effects house Ring of Fire offered a preview of a soon to be released Nike ad earlier this week during “Visual Effects in Commercials,” a show and tell featuring top work not only from Ring of Fire, but also Venice, Calif.-based Motion Theory and a pair of Santa Monica houses, Method Studios and The Syndicate.
The event–designed to showcase cutting edge commercial visual effects–was hosted in Culver City by 3D scanning company Eyetronics in cooperation with the Visual Effects Society.
“Pool” is the latest in Nike’s Lebron campaign, which features basketball star Lebron James playing various roles. It was helmed by Stacy Wall of bicoastal Epoch Films for Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
This episode of the campaign features the Lebrons poolside. Ring of Fire previewed a portion of this spot that features a spectacular dive executed by Lebron–actually performed by a champion diver and incorporating face replacement to pull off the humorous effect.
To create the ad, Lebron was scanned using the Eyetronics on-set 3D scanning camera system, which Spivack said was a plus as they had a very short window with the athlete. “It’s really fast,” he said of the Eyetronics system. “The flexibility to bring it on set and shoot there was really great.”
Spivack reported that the complex production–lensed on location in Calabasas, Calif.–also incorporated matte paintings and greenscreen to produce a lush background.
Production also involved 3D, tracking and other effects techniques.
Additional session presenters included visual effects supervisor Ben Grossman of The Syndicate, who showed the last Energizer “Aliens” spot, during which the pink bunny helps power a spaceship. The Syndicate’s CG supervisor Luke MacDonald showcased the company’s effects-laden British Telecom “Network.”
Method Studios’ CG supervisor Laurent LeDrew, technical director Gil Baron and 3D lead artist James LeBlock showcased a unique breakdance in Pepsi’s “Dancetron.”
And Motion Theory’s senior art director Mark Kudsi and visual effects supervisor Vi Nguyen walked the audience through Electronic Arts’ “Mechanical Warriors” and HP’s “Pharrell.”
Director Shomi Patwary Joins Naked City Films
Director Shomi Patwary, perhaps best known for his music videos for stars like A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd, and Wu-Tang Clan, has joined the roster at Naked City Films for U.S. representation. A Bengali-American, Patwary has recently directed commercials for UPS and Hanes out of The Martin Agency, as well as for the New York Knicks, Carhartt, Ray-Ban, and Meta. His work is docu-style with an urban feel and a fresh, modern approach to both camera work and editing style. “I started out making DIY music videos, where every frame relied on style and emotion,” explained Patwary. “Moving into commercial filmmaking helped me sharpen my skills and work on a bigger scale. Now, joining Naked City Films, I feel like I’m part of a team that shares my passion for strong vision and the craft of bringing cinematic ideas to life.” Patwary is no stranger to Naked City. He previously was repped by Woodward Original in Detroit, which entered into an agreement with Naked City for reciprocal representation/production in 2023. Now he’s come all the way over to Naked City. Patwary will continue to maintain his own company, Illusive Media, for music video projects, the most recent one being ”Pop It Off” for Tyga and Lil Wayne. According to Naked City co-founder Dave Schmidt, he has been following Patwary’s work for a few years. “Shomi has always been pushing the limits in production. From his TV series work with Desus & Mero to his ever-growing catalog of iconic music videos. Shomi is on the verge of bigger things and I’m really proud to have him as a collaborator at Naked City.” Also new to the Naked City roster is RECX, a directing team comprised of cinematographers Erin Collett and Yurek Akbar. The work is driven by the latest in camera tech... Read More