Premier VFX and design company Asylum has collaborated with @radical.media director Derin Seale and advertising agency Cramer-Krasselt for a potent and sobering new spot for the Ad Council that highlights the importance of being prepared when disaster strikes. (For more information and to view the full "Ready" campaign, please visit: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/adcouncil/35834)

In World Upside Down Asylum Lead VFX/Inferno Artist Rob Trent guides his team through a world literally turned on its head by the coming of a natural disaster. To create this chaotic world, Asylum tapped into Flame, Shake, Silhouette, Maya and Syntheses software to bring together a collage of flying props propelled by wire rigging, shot falling on greenscreen, or, in the case of the largest objects, tastefully animated and rendered in CG. Due to the complexity of mingling live actors with dangerous falling objects, multiple takes were required, and the final :60 is a seamless collage of six core passes overlapping one another, often retimed and warped together to sync the correct action.

"Putting together a spot with so many moving parts, especially under tight time constraints, is always challenging, but we have worked with both Cramer-Krasselt and @radical before, and both are talented partners," noted Trent. "Derin's (Seale) vision and production crew really knew how to get the actors moving correctly on the wires on shoot day, and everything from the choreographed wire-lift of mom and dad, to the clothing and hair blowing in the wind of massive fans, to the set lighting was beautifully done, perfectly capturing the drama that such a spot requires. The editors at Whitehouse and a final mix from Eleven Sound rounded out what ended up being an all-around wonderful spot."

THE CREDS:
Client: Ad Council; FEMA; New York City Office of Emergency Management; Red Cross in Greater New York
Spot's Title: "World Upside Down"
Air Date: September 2009

Agency: Cramer-Krasselt
EVP/Chief Creative Officer: Marshall Ross
GCD: G. Andrew Meyer
Co-Executive Creative Director: Dean Stefanides
Co-Executive Creative Director: Larry Hampel
Senior Art Director: David Levy
Copywriter: Andrei Chahine
VP/Director of Broadcast Production: Sergio Lopez

Prod Company: @radical.media
Director: Derin Seale
EP: Frank Scherma
Producer: Samantha Storr
Head of Production: Cathy Dun

Editorial: Whitehouse Chicago

Post/Effects: Asylum
EP: Michael Pardee
Bidding Producer: Michael Hanley
Producer: Ryan Meredith
Lead VFX/Inferno Artist Supervisor: Rob Trent
Inferno Artist(s): Miles Essmiller, Mark Renton
CG Supervisor: Zachary Tucker

Lead Modeler: Greg Stuhl
Modeler: Toshihiro Sakamaki
Tracker(s): Tom Stanton, Apirak Kamjan, Michael Lori
Lighter: Aaron Vest
Animator(s): Michael Shelton, Steward Burris

Texture Painting: John Hart

Roto/Paint: Jason Bidwell
Roto(s): Elissa Bello, Stephanie Ide, Scott Baxter, Hugo Dominguez
Roto/Shake: Johnny Weckworth

ABOUT ASYLUM:
Asylum is a premier visual effects and design company, handling high-profile features, commercials, music videos, and emerging media content for web and mobile platforms. Asylum created the visual effects for such films as the upcoming Terminator Salvation, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Pirates Of The Caribbean ll & lll, Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World (Academy Award and BAFTA nominated), Moulin Rouge, Minority Report, Phantom Of The Opera, Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, Tony Scott's déjà vu, Man on Fire & Domino and Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. Asylum has done spot work for brands such as Hershey's, Nike, Sony Playstation, Coke, BMW, Gatorade and Visa. In addition, Asylum Design has created award winning title and graphic design work for such films as Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bedtime Stories, X-Men I & II, The Island, Bad Boys II and XXX.

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