The Richards Group hired Janimation to bring the dynamic Cow Superheroes to life for Chick-fil-A's latest calendar advertising campaign.
The COW SUPERHEROES :30 spot opens with multiple ominous shots of an inner city while the voice over describes "a world driven by hunger, at a time when the innocent struggle to survive, one force fights for decency, justice and chicken." The mood of the spot employs a successful misdirection, followed by the introduction of the unique Cow Superheroes. The Superheroes are comprised of "The Swatter," "The Gristle Missile," "Coldcuts" and others.
Greg Punchatz, lead animator for Janimation, said, "COW SUPERHEROES was an interesting and challenging spot, both from a creative and technical standpoint. On the creative side, it was fun to work out how each of the Cow Superheroes would move. Each Superhero had their own power and moved in a way that shows off their unique abilities." Janimation used details such as muscles rippling under the skin, nostrils flaring and eyes blinking to create realism for characters such as "The Gristle Missile" and "Untippable."
On the technical side the challenge was that the project had a short turnaround time and there was already photo illustrations created for the calendar that had to be matched. To achieve this effect, the animation team at Janimation utilized the latest techniques in camera projection mapping to literally breathe life into the print illustrations for Chick-fil-A. The high-tech quality of the imagery was enhanced by an on screen overlay, uniquely designed cursor driven titles, as well as appropriate music and sound design by Sacred Noise, New York.
Additional Janimation credits go to Steve Gaconnier (chief creative director), Pete Herzog (visual effects producer), Lyn Caudle (effects animator), Ludo Michaud (td), John McInnis (animator), Jeff Dates (animator), John Griffith (animator), Jen Hudgens (designer/compositor), John Fulton (on-line/off-line editor) and Kevin Korngut (systems administrator).
Janimation (www.janimation.com) is a 10-year-old Dallas-based digital creative studio producing computer animation, motion design and visual effects for film and broadcast commercials. Services include: 3D computer animation, character design and animation, motion graphic design, digital compositing, visual effects production and visual effects supervision.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
