Survey Says . . .


S’up! Matt Pekarek here. New Assistant Social Media and Marketing guy. Still very new and still trying not to forget names within 3 seconds of meeting people.

One of the nice parts of the job here is pouring through all of the archived work that’s been produced within these walls. Great names and great companies. It isn’t hard to talk about what we’ve got when there’s such a solid pedigree of past (and present and future) work. However, a couple days ago, I received an e-mail from our resident fashion maven and professional social butterfly Sarah Edwards.

The subject was “Family Feud”.

I was intrigued.

It turns out that our own Tom Jacobsen, Design Director and all-around really nice guy, was in a couple of episodes of Family Feud in 1992. Somehow, these episodes got uploaded to our internal server and have made the rounds. Apparently, there is growing consensus that all of the great early 90’s hair and smack talk from Ray Combs is deserving of a larger audience. So, we’re going to try something over the next few weeks.

Every day, we’re going tweet out a question from those two episodes. Tweet back with the special hastag, and if you get the top answer, you’ll win that day (and, hey, if you’ve seen it already, no fair cheat tweeting – or “Cheeting”). The person who wins the most days gets a special prize with no monetary value whatsoever. It’ll be good, but wholly worthless.

To top it all off, after the contest we’ll upload the edited episodes to our Vimeo channel. We’ll also be super nice and include some INCREDIBLE vintage commercials. The early 90s was the age of Nirvana and Alice in Chains, but it was also the age of teased perms, shoulder pads, and pastel colors. Consider yourself warned.

So, the contest begins Monday, January 23. If you haven’t already, start following @pixelfarm.

See you on the twitterversethingy.

Matt



Moving Poetry One Frame at a Time


Pixel Farm’s collaboration with Motionpoems, since it’s inception in 2008, continues to advance the Motionpoems mission to broaden the audience of poetry

Pixel Farm creatives Deb Kirkeeide and Tom Jacobsen were among 12 talented artists that took part in collaborating with poets featured in the Best American Poetry 2011.

Jacobsen was paired with poet L.S. Klatt whose poem was based on Andrew Wyeth. Wyeth was a realist painter and his favorite subject matter was often the land and people around him. On a 9-day Dakota road trip with his son, Jacobsen snapped photos of the Midwest landscape that were inspired by the painter and then incorporated into the finished piece.

 

 
Deb Kirkeeide has an extensive background in painting and a continually expressed love for the arts. She worked with poet James Longenbach to bring his poem entitled “Snow” to life. While sometimes it is challenging to try and interpret what the poet wants to express visually, Longenbach’s response to Deb’s piece was, “I think it is gorgeous, I love the watercolor tones , I love especially the way in which it feels as if it were one long tracking shot, the mind moving effortlessly through it’s accumulations. The snow globe at the end is a brilliant touch, an image of the containment, the space of the mind, that is everywhere implicit.” It is always interesting to see how the artist interprets the poem and how the poet might learn something new about their work. To view more of Kirkeeide’s artwork, click here. Click below to see the finished piece.

 

Music is another way we make sense of our lives, a way in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can’t with our minds. Utilizing the talents of Pixel Farm’s audio team, the poems come to life to tell a story both visually and emotionally.

Pixel Farm audio designer Jesse Marks said, “Poetry is so subjective and I get so excited to be a part of Motionpoems because it creates an open canvas with lots of passionate collaborators.”

Thank you to Motionpoems for including us in such a unique project!



Pixel Farm ProPELs Students into the Future! (Not literally.)


Partnering with Hopkins High School’s ProPEL program, Pixel Farm was delighted to mentor two stellar students in all things VFX and post-production. Under the mild-mannered tutelage of Executive Producer Billy “The Kruser” Kruse, Jack and Dani were able to shadow digital artists, animators, sound designers and composers to get a better idea of what we do at Pixel Farm. Eighteen weeks later, these smart, passionate whippersnappers created this content piece to describe their experience. Pixel Farm is proud to present to you Jack and Dani…Filmmakers of the Future!!!

Pixel Farm Mentorship from Jack Anderson on Vimeo.



Wanna Americana?


To set the stage for Target’s Americana brand, Pixel Farm and PMH joined forces with prominent director Peggy Sirota to give the brand a stylish, nostalgic look. A significant amount of pre-visualization and design was done by Pixel Farm and PMH to ensure all of the visual effects would come together in one cohesive trendy commercial. Tom Jacobsen, VFX Artist at Pixel Farm and lead artist on project comments “The opportunity to supervise on set as well as the ability to shoot stills to incorporate into the spot, proved invaluable in making the VFX work and the spot gel.” Adding to the strong visual approach of the commercial is a re-mix of Shirley Temple singing “Early Bird.”

Below is the finished spot as well as some behind-the scenes footage that will give you some toe tapping insight to the things we do at Pixel Farm.

Behind-the-scenes footage shot by Pixel Farm Editor Doug Griess.



PMH + Target GO International with Pixel Farm


For five years, Target’s GO International Designer Collective has collaborated with both high-end and emerging designers to create fly-off-the-shelf fashion for women at an affordable price. From the beloved Alexander McQueen to the imaginative Jean Paul Gaultier, Target’s Go collections are a dream come true for thrifty fashionistas. To celebrate the 5th anniversary of the brand, Target has re-released 34 of their “greatest hits” from 17 world-renowned designers.

To launch the campaign, Pixel Farm worked in tandem with our friends at PMH to produce a surreal world of fashion that was full of color, imagination and possibilities. Inspired by the trompe l’oeil (literally meaning “deceive the eye”) artistic method, Animation Lead Tom Doeden, Colorist Oscar Oboza and Artists Tony Mills and Jay Holgate employed a mixture of digital painting, sky replacement, set extension and a ton of bold colors to push the spot into stark hyper reality. Nicely done, guys!

Check out the finished spot below. And get over to Target pronto as these pieces are only available for a limited time!



Dolla’ Dolla’ Bills Y’all


Pixel Farm recently collaborated with The PPS Group & Bandy Carroll Hellige to create two spots for the Kentucky Lottery. Animation rockstars Rich Haesemeyer, Joe Russo, and Alicia Reece flew down to Kentucky to direct, VFX supervise, and puppeteer the action.

A mixture of live-action puppeteering and CG animation were used to maintain the photo-realism and achieve an authentic, organic movement. After production, the animation team removed the puppet rigs, comped in CG elements, corrected color, and brought these Washingtons to life.



Josh Allard adds hotness to Tapes ‘n Tapes video


Pixel Farm assistant colorist Josh Allard teamed up with MPLS.TV to color correct the weekly live performance series “City of Music”.

Director Dan Huiting wanted warm color and bright whites to give the video its hot feel. The capabilities of a new film grain feature available in our Baselight color correction system really shine in this video and gives it a more filmic feel.

Check out the video below for the song ‘Badaboom’ from Tapes ‘n Tapes new record Outside shot at Terrarium Studios in Minneapolis.



Pixel Farm gets all celebrity on yo’ ass!


Lively tornados, luminous lights, and energetic crowds are just a few things
Pixel Farm created to give these Target spots the “A-list” polish they warrant.

Teaming up once again with creative agency Peterson Milla Hooks,
Pixel Farm was tasked with new challenges and thrilled to be a part of
some of the most admired spots out there! Just ask Agency Spy.
http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy

To check out the spots…or the good lookin’ celebs, click below!







Pixel Farm’s Talent Shines at Minnesota Electronic Theater 2010


Pixel Farm had six projects in competition at this year’s Minnesota Electronic Theater – the Minneapolis/St Paul chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH which features the best animation work from professionals, independent artists, and students.

Pixel Farm’s projects covered the full spectrum this year – from broadcast commercials and television programming to animated poetry and stadium opens. Here’s a compete list:

1. MonsterQuest Season 4 Creature Effects
2. Minnesota Twins Baseball Stadium Open
3. Gerber “Baby Genius”
4. Target “Fall Fashion 2010″
5. “My Love”, a Motionpoem by poet Todd Boss and designer/animator Deb Kirkeeide

And last, but certainly not least…

6. “A Moment”, an animated short film by Pixel Farm’s own Amanda Nelson, winner of the night’s BEST INDEPENDENT AWARD!!

For more information on Minnesota Electronic Theater: http://minneapolis-stpaul.siggraph.org/

To check out “A Moment”, Amanda’s winning short:

A Moment from Amanda Nelson on Vimeo.



MYSTERY. MAYHEM. MONSTERQUEST!


After five months of research, concepting, and production, Pixel Farm wrapped creature development and animation for the popular History Channel series, MonsterQuest.  From the legendary Sasquatch to out-of-this-world Alien Humanoids, Pixel Farm worked closely with the History Channel to give these mystifying creatures life.

The monsters were featured in two main formats: a holodeck animation which details the technical specs of the creature as well as live-action shot integration during the reenactments of eye witness reports.

With a little Pixel Farm magic, we’re turning skeptics into believers!  Check out the VFX and Breakdown reel here:




Title – MonsterQuest Season 4 Creature FX Reel

Client – History Channel

Agency – Whitewolf Entertainment

Artists – Tom Doeden, Amanda Nelson, Joe Russo, Chad Retrum

Services – Animation, Design