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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Tenacious D - "To Be the Best"

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Talk about rockin gigs-- Director Jeremy Konner had me jump in on this celeb filled music video featuring none other than Tenacious D through Partizan.
Signed by the D ! (+Kyle drew me back a doodle)

This video had a lot of locations and setups to work with and a great cadre of cameos including Val Kilmer, Maria Menunos, Dave Grohl, Josh Groban, Yoshiki, Jimmy Kimmel-- many of whom weren't confirmed yet at the time of boarding. Hence, Val Kilmer looks nothing like my stock "celebrity friend" rendition at Jack's mansion.

Location scouts help quite a bit for reference, scale, and blocking in shots--
interspersed here with storyboard comparison:
Approaching the Pacific Palisades location
A fittingly spooky asylum space for Karl's scene
A funny great detail
  
Likeness comparison
A dramatic and heroic death scene
A view from the top
Majestic oceanfront views
Kyle's beard was pretty convincing
The recording studio
A trek to the outdoor
training path
Mansion interior hall
Smog city day


Sketches from the set:
One of "Hollywood Jack" in regalia...

 ...and one signed by Val Kilmer
Our triumphant director

 Director: Jeremy Konner
Production: Partizan
Label: Sony Music Entertainment

Thursday, April 5, 2012

PergoMax & BattleBots - "Floor Wars"

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This was a promotional ad for Pergo XP laminate flooring-- akin to a previous series where they face off against many floor destroying foes. Director Jeremy Konner and the actual robot makers (whose workspace was quite a mechanical makers' wonderland) gave some great notes and direction for this project.

I had a little more involvement than usual for this production since I was also part of the robot concept design process. Sketching possible models that would be both fun to watch and present a scuffy challenge to the floors was the challenge.
I drew out about three dozen concepts that got whittled down to the 6 champion contenders. 
Here they are:
This was the most fun to see come to life. The terrifying mechanical K9 known as:

The messiest one of the lot:
This one required heels as weapons and I wasn't sure how'd it would work-- until 
they broke the mold with:

We knew pretty early on there would need to be a radially spinning one.  Thus was born:
The diabolical flame thrower:






My personal favorite line, the Launcher Bot concepts eventually resulted in:
A PERGO vs. BATTLEBOTS action GIF:

The storyboard and final shot comparison:

  
 
The mom's expression is particularly priceless~