Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Stranger Things) and Will Gluck (Easy A) co-directed via Pacific Rim Films this DICK’s Sporting Goods’ spot out of Anomaly New York. Titled “The New Kid,” the ad shows us the arrival of a new Nike Air Max 270 React shoe at DICK’s. But the shoe’s (aka the new kid’s) first overnight turns out to be anything but a silent night. When the sun goes down, the fun heats up. And our store comes alive as “The New Kid” embarks on an epic journey of discovery and play, meeting new friends along the way. It’s all fun and games in this night at the store, until morning shows up and tries to crash the party.
MPC served as VFX/animation house, bringing the shoe and varied other sports apparel and equipment to life.
Director Levy said the commercial “reminded me of my Night at the Museum films with the combination of humor, wonder and magic.” He observed, “I saw the impact that those Museum movies had on audiences, the way they not only increased actual attendance at the Museum of Natural History, but in the way I saw kids looking up at those exhibits. I could see first-hand the deepened connection, the way that inanimate objects were suddenly imbued with life — with the magic inherent in asking “What if…”
Gluck said the spot was “achieved through an extensive mix of CGI animation and live-action filming; a hybrid style which I’ve become enamored of after making my Peter Rabbit films. But this spot was even more challenging, for instead of cute animals we were working with sporting goods which needed to be imbued with personalities, feelings and emotion.”
Ashley Bernes, creative director at Moving Picture Company, “Modeling, rigging and animating 46 characters; creating emotion through motion; close collaboration with a world-class production company and agency–this is the sort of work that makes us at MPC tick. Levy and Gluck brought an incredible wealth of experience in both live action and animation which proved critical in defining the rules of this film. It’s rare that a project of this scale has such a profound effect on everyone who worked on it, and I think that shows in this fun, playful and energetic film on screen.”
Client DICK’s Sporting Goods Agency Anomaly New York Mike Byrne, chief creative officer; Seth Jacobs; group creative director; Bryce Cline, creative director/art director; Jeremy Straight, creative director/copywriter; Alex Thompson, art director. Production Pacific Rim Films, Santa Monica, Calif. Shawn Levy, Will Gluck, directors; Claudio Miranda, DP; Annie Johnson, exec producer; Bryan Mitchell, head of production; Denny Kennedy, line producer. VFX Moving Picture Company (MPC), New York Ashley Bernes, creative director, VFX supervisor; Rob Hodgson, VFX supervisor; Matthew Loranger, exec producer; Chris Connolly, producer; Katherine Miccio, production coordinator; Angela Lupo, managing director; Tobey Lindback, 2D lead; Chris Bernier, 3D lead; Graeme Revell, animation lead; Renato Carone, Ruairi Twohig, Julien Aucouturier , Yashvardhan Jain, Lawrence Merrill , Chris Green, Esther Song, 2D team; Andrew Ortiz, Dan Fine, Lucy Choi, Ash Yee, Roberto Maki, lighting team; Wesley Schneider, rigging; Jemmy Molero, modeling; Jacob Fradkin, Mike Lombardo, Ross Scroble, Anthony Travieso, Joerg Volk, Yarim Machado, animation team; Roger Hom, Tyler Gibb, Andrew Brooks, Morgan Schweitzer, concept design; Neela Kumuda, Quentin Martin, Stephanie Mollett, Mark Driscoll, Salil Thapa, additional production support; Santosh Gunaseelan, Raju Ganesh S, Mark Robinson, Brendon Echsner, additional 3D support; Andre Monteiro, Vaibhav Gupta, Mohammad Asif, Sandeep B K, GopikaPriya M, Kalaiarasu Puhalendhi, S Shashi Kumar, Ullas. Thunga K, Sunil Manohas Mohapratra, Alexandre Corcoy, Helene Frery, Anbarasu Elangovan, assets; Subbaiah A, Kuntal Kanti Bera, Yeshwanth Garlapati, Gretchen Asmar, Alexandre Sauthier, rigging; Ganael Chevallier, Cedric Jeanne, Geoffroy Barbet-Massin, Andrew Price, Samir Patel, Venkatesan D, animation; Pierre Jury, Guillaume Parra, lighting; Mahendra Natha Reddy, Sugumar S, Bhushanam Mukkala, Ajeet Pratap Singh, Suresh Pitchuka, Maniraj G, Gokulakrishnan M G, Likin Ganapathi C P, additional 2D support; Ganesh Kumar S, Anirudh Kurve, Tejashwini N, Showber Shadik, Shridhar Bhat, Suhas N, Ankit Dheraj Toppo, tracking; Kris Smale, colorist. (Toolbox: Maya, Houdini ZBrush, Photoship, Illustrator, C4D, After Effects, Nuke, Flame, RealityCapture, Substance Painter, Baselight) Editorial Arcade
Top Spot of the Week: Samsung, BBH Singapore, Director Rhys Thomas Get Fit For A Surf Holiday
Samsung’s new global campaign from BBH Singapore, featuring Samsung Health and Galaxy AI, tells the story of a young professional couple who compete to get fit for a surf holiday.
Titled “A Samsung Health Story: Racing to Fiji,” this film taps into Gen Z’s wellness dilemma and the fact that they can often find health information overwhelming; in particular, BBH Singapore took inspiration from young people who reference their “quarter life crisis” on social media. This film tells the story of Stacey and Steve who decide to go surfing in Fiji, something they did five years ago but haven’t done since they started their jobs. However, there’s one problem: they need to get fitter first.
Featuring a range of Galaxy products powered by Galaxy AI, they rebuild their fitness to prepare for the trip, competing playfully to spur each other on. We see them comparing their Energy Scores (a new feature on the Samsung Health app), recording their runs and swims on their Samsung Galaxy Watches, trying and failing to get fit at work and on their commutes and striving to improve in the run up to the trip. When they get there, however, there’s a fun twist, and the film ends on a cliffhanger.
The ad is expected to be the first in a series, which will develop the characters and their “world” in future episodes. This longform (two-and-a-half-minute) version of the spot delves deeper into the storytelling, in a fresh approach for Samsung’s product campaigns, while the shorter edits focus on driving exposure to specific features.
BBH Singapore also leaned into the entertainment aspect of the spot; it was directed by comedic specialist Rhys Thomas at Stink Films, who has a major TV background. Best known for his work on Saturday Night... Read More