Curious Pictures has announced the signing of MTV's SPY GROOVE directors Elliot M. Bour and Saul Andrew Blinkoff and the completion of their first ever fully animated Mercedes spot. Produced for ad agency Merkley Newman Harty, the spot features the quintessential icons of Wall Street, the bear and the bull. The two stone animals come to life and put on their boxing gloves, taking turns wrestling and punching each other. Their battle is halted when the Mercedes E320 arrives on the scene and the announcer says: "No matter how much the market fluctuates, theres one thing you can count on, the Mercedes E320s unswerving quality and stability." Executive producer Richard Winkler said, "Merkley Newman Harty came to us with a great concept and a tight schedule. Traditional 2D Animation ordinarily takes ten to twelve weeks. This project had four. What made that feasible was the combination of Saul and Elliots cleaner designs and quick response; A lot of digital processes and methods developed at Curious; The agency participation and overall production teamwork; and our producer Kallan Kagan did a fantastic job on this tight schedule." The two directors said, "We wanted to stay away from anything that looked like Saturday morning cartoons. Since this spot was for Mercedes Benz, we knew that the style had to remind you of the NEW YORKER and have that level of sophistication." In order to maintain the look of rough animation as much as possible, the Curious team decided to forgo the clean-up process that involves reducing scribbled outlines into a single, refined line. The characters colors were washed out and the layout was kept in tones of gray. The layout was also laid over a textured, grainy parchment background to help maintain the desired organic look. Curious Pictures team was comprised of directors Bour and Blinkoff, producer Kallan Kagan, executive producer Richard Winkler, production coordinator Jenn Mann, 2D Animators Kyle McCulloch and Vanessa Van der Baan and editor Anthony Orkin. Saul & Elliot are also in development with Curious on 2 original half hour TV series entitled, LIGHTS! CAMERA! WINSTON! and TOM FOOLERY. WINSTON! is about a boy obsessed with movie making who wont let anything stand in the way of his next blockbuster. FOOLERY follows the exploits of the U.S. president's mischievous kid who always seems to have a scheme up his sleeve.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
