Glassworks 3D artist Markus Lauterbach: “The challenge for me was to get as much detail as possible into a very shallow depth of field. I used hi-res textures of real baby skin to cover our model, added some CG hair to get fine highlights and used Arnold to generate the skin shader. Arnold has excellent subsurface scattering options, which turned out to be a great help for our backlit scene.”

Watch Foundation Against Cancer (Belgium) “Birth”

Watch Old Spice “Jungle Wilderness”

Passion Pictures NYC studio has been buzzing along under the radar for a couple years but that all changes today with the release of this full-CG spot for Jack Daniel’s first entry into the flavored booze wars called “Tennessee Honey.”

Director Pete Candeland: “This was a fantastic project to kick-start our New York studio. The concept of a ‘Cool King Bee’ with strong character animation and a heavy art direction really drew me to the project.”

Watch Jack Daniel’s “Tennessee Honey.”

Agency: Arnold Worldwide, Production: Passion NYC, Director: Pete Candeland, Music: “I’m a King Bee” Stone Foxes

Brooklyn motion-man John Earle extrudes five original illustrations by comic legend Michael Allred into this full minute action/fashion/crime thriller for MAC Cosmetics’ new line of Wonder Woman inspired cosmetics. Original score by Beta Petrol.

Direction, Design, Animation, & Compositing: John Earle, Original Illustrations: Michael Allred, Art Director: Loann Lam for MAC Cosmetics, Producers: Cindy Carrandi for MAC Cosmetics; Julian Duff for Beta Petrol, Music & Sound Design: Nathan Ehrenfeld for Beta Petrol

Watch on Vimeo

Glassworks in London adds the newest chapter of magic realism to the long-running O2 campaign powered by the breathy tones of Sean Bean.

Agency: VCCP, Director: Dom Bridges,Production: Mustard,VFX/post: Glassworks

Watch O2 “Strewth”

Director Kris Mercado and the 1stAveMachine team seamlessly mix live action drinks and a little CG dude into a convincing and charming spot for a Tassimo countertop beverage maker.

Agency: BEING, production/VFX: 1st Ave Machine, grade and finish: Smoke and Mirrors

Watch Tassimo “Brewbot Beats”

The last of three Nissan Juke spots by MassMarket thru TBWA\Toronto continues the tongue-in-cheek vibe to help skirt restrictions by Advertising Standards Canada, which forbids depictions of unsafe driving on TV unless it is clearly fake.

Watch Nissan Juke “Trophy”

More VFX fun from the unstoppable MPC in London, this time for Skoda thru Fallon and Somesuch & Co. director Nick Gordon. Agency: Fallon UK, Production: Somesuch & Co., Editor: Dominic Leung @ Trim, Post/VFX: MPC

Watch Skoda “Mean Green”

Hornet Inc. launches their new division called Workshop, “a platform to showcase the craftier work of the Hornet directors,” with this massive stop motion spot directed by Peter Sluszka for Land Rover.

The clip was designed, built and shot over five months at Hornet’s DUMBO stage from 1.5 tons of clay by a team of claymation specialists assembled from across the country. The Land Rover vehicle, sculpted with a 3D printer, is the only non-clay element and included fully functional steering, doors, and practical headlights.

Watch Landrover “Claynation”

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