Director Chris Godfrey teams with Emerald City

2011 is shaping up to be a great year for Emerald City with the signing of Director and VFX guru Chris Godfrey.

With an illustrious career spanning 25 years and some of the most significant feature films produced in Australia, Chris’s move into TVC Directing is an exciting prospect. As a founder of Animal Logic and the VFX Director on films such as Australia, Moulin Rouge, Tomorrow When the War Began, The Thin Red Line and many others, he brings skills and experience to the commercial world that few Directors can match.

Emerald City is co-owned by Creative Director Caterina Vicaretti, VFX Director David Mosqueda and EP Jason Burrows, and they had been looking to bring a talented Director with the necessary VFX experience into the mix for some time.

“When we met Chris, it just seemed like a great match” said Caterina. “Emerald has always been a company focused on creative process and design, and on that front we really see eye to eye with Chris. Not to mention his live action and VFX resumé, which is quite simply unmatched in this country.”

Teamed up with Chris is highly experienced TVC Producer Lee Thomson.

Infiniti

The Spinifex Group came to Emerald City to design content for 3 large screens at the Infiniti stand at the 2010 US car show circuit, some of the biggest automotive events in the northern hemishpere. Our design team put together concepts and creative direction to set the tone for the display, and effectively communicate the key attributes of the Infiniti brand – sophisticated style, power and environmental responsibility.

Donate Yourself to Landcare

Landcare, a grass roots movement that harnesses individuals and groups under the ethic of caring for the land, has launched a new campaign by Brave, promoting the idea that people donate their time to the Land. Production company Jungleboys asked Emerald City to create a giant donation tin, from which the army of Landcare volunteers can emerge in multiple locations from the bush to the beach and urban parklands, to lend a hand revitalizing the natural environment. Using a combination of 3D, set extension and matte painting, we created a highly realistic result for both spots.

 

Lexus

Benchmark Films enlisted Emerald City to design a series of presentations for the Lexus stand at the 2010 Australian International Motor Show. Lexus wanted to communicate the luxury and performance technology of its latest creations, within the context of a contemporary and delicate design aesthetic. Though the use of layered light play, a vibrant colour palette and the clear, delicately structured imagery of the Cicada wings, clouds and water droplets, Emerald City paved the way for the effective communication of the brand message.

Midea Tumbling Box

We recently completed a 3D TVC for the Midea Tumbling Box through Shanghai production company PIG China. We were set the challenge of producing photorealistic simulations of clothes underwater, moving like graceful schools of fish to communicate the gentle nature of the Tumbling Box washing machine. Produced and Directed in house using a combination of 3D cloth simulation, animation, particle and underwater effects, we worked closely with the client to ensure their brief of a clean and natural underwater world was realised. The result is a vibrant and surreal aquatic world.

Breville – The Perfect Cup

We’ve completed the design and post on the Perfect Cup Tea Maker TVC we recently shot for Breville. Bellamy Hayden came to Emerald City to take Breville’s TV exposure to the next level, and come up more than your average product spot. Another spot we Directed and Produced in house, we combined the latest in high speed digital photography and layered lighting and fluid effects to enhance Breville’s sleek industrial design.

Who Magazine – Who are you?

Draft FCB came to Emerald City to help them update the Who Magazine brand and come up with a new visual style. The new hook for the market leading Who is “fact is always more interesting than fiction”, and Emerald City’s job was to develop a visual journey through little known truths of four prominent celebrities. Emerald City jumped at the chance to revitalise the iconic Who brand, and Designed, Directed and Produced the spot entirely in house. By taking Who’s photographic and print theme and creating a layered, textured and typographic design piece, Emerald City and Draft FCB have successfully re-imagined Who’s branding for 2010.

Breville

We brought Breville’s latest high end appliances to life a few weeks ago, with production on two product spots being undertaken simultaneously, the Planetary Mixer and Automatic Tea maker and Kettle. The brief from the agency Bellamy Hayden was to take Breville’s TVC production to the next level, so of course we accepted the challenge.

Directed and Produced entirely in house at Emerald City, the spots combine beautiful art direction, lighting design and nuanced post work to enhance the high-speed imagery we captured on the Phantom camera from Panavision. The creative approach was to showcase Breville’s clean lines and sleek industrial design through close up, fragmented imagery and shallow depth of field, emphasising texture and reflective details, function and cool design.

Here are some photos from the studio shoot earlier this month. The spots are in post at the moment so stay tuned and we will post images of the finals in the coming weeks.

Animated Miracles

We recently completed The Miracle of Copper, a fully animated 8 minute film on the process of copper mining, set in the Northparkes copper mine. Using a combination of 2D graphics and hand illustration, the presentation takes a humorous and informative look at the Northparkes mine. Presented in a fun, retro visual style with illustrated characters and a witty VO, it unlocks some of the mystery around Copper mining and gives an insight into the role copper has in the modern world, from computer technology to infrastructure and telecommunications.

International Dilmah Campaign

Produced and Directed entirely in-house at Emerald City, this campaign for Dilmah’s new range of Exceptional Teas showcased beautiful design set to a vibrant score. The development of some bold new visual styles combined with some of Dilmah’s classic design elements were key points in Emerald City’s brief, and the Design and VFX teams headed up by David Mosqueda have hit the mark. Right from early style frame development, through to final production, the Emerald City team created the exotic imagery that Dilmah wanted and seamlessly integrated this with live action, animation and graphic elements to produce a beautiful and surreal world that captures the essence of the brand. Agency: Raw Advertising.