SANTA MONICA, CA – The three worlds of acclaimed film and spot director Michel Gondry are explored in this latest spot for the HP Pavilion Entertainment PC laptop via Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Directed with affection and wit by his brother, Olivier Gondry, “Michel Gondry” combines film, animation, and visual effects.
Striking this delicate creative and technical balance is Eight VFX, a frequent collaborator with Olivier Gondry (Chevy, American Eagle), and a shop whose recent credits include projects for Pepsi, Scion, Guinness, and MS Zune. Eight also contributed the effects for the first spot in the new HP campaign (“Vera Wang”), and “Petra Nemcova,” breaking soon. For Eight, “Michel Gondry” presented an opportunity to demonstrate that it can employ any effects technique.
“Michel is a dreamer, and in his films, such as ‘The Science of Sleep,’ for example, he likes to shift perspective for the audience, using various techniques,” explained Eight VFX Supervisor Jean-Marc Demmer. “This spot reflects the many facets of this filmmaker in the same way.”
Demmer noted that the spot also represents a complicity between the two gifted brothers. “Olivier understands his brother, who’s been dreaming like this since he was a little kid, and it was an opportunity for him to put Michel’s unique personality up on the screen.”
Demmer noted that both directors enjoy playing with perspective. “This is a common point for both Olivier and Michel…the techniques are just a means to an end,” he said.
According to Eight Executive Producer Baptiste Andrieux, the technique of character animation is one his artists have had opportunity to develop of late. The company recently did character animation and effects on the acclaimed “Hammer” spot for Scion xB, and “with the level of character animation in ‘Michel,’ this is maturing as a technique for us,” he explained.
Andrieux added that Eight worked extensively on the look of the CG for this spot. For example, one scene has Michel drumming in his bedroom; the space becomes CG-animated, and then stop-motion animated. “We worked very closely with Olivier to establish the CG environment,” he said, “and with Cat Solen of Partizan, who was responsible for most of the stop motion.”
Eight’s Jann Mallard designed the end tag in which Michel Gondry’s three “personalities” wind up together, sharing a bed and ready for a night of imagination. “For me, it’s a lovely moment, these things living on the screen to form a complete picture,” Mallard said. “Stylistically and metaphorically these three facets are at peace.”
Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Client: Hewlett Packard / PSG
Title of Spot: “Michel Gondry”
Creative Director, Co-Chairman: Rich Silverstein
Creative Director, Partner: Steve Simpson
Group Creative Director/Copywriter: Mike McKay
Associate Creative Director/Art Director: Stephen Goldblatt
Executive Producer: Josh Reynolds
Producer: Vicki Tripp/Josh Reynolds
Assistant Producer: Jen Moore
Account Director: Nancy Reyes
Account Manager: Elena Korzhenevich
Assistant Account Manager: Philippa Campbell
Production Company: Partizan Los Angeles & New York
Director: Olivier Gondry
Cameraman/D.P.: Tim Ives
Executive Producer: Sheila Stepanek
Line Producer: Valerie Romer
Production Manager: Magali Selosse- Bishop
Production Coordinator: Kristel Wedin
Head of Production: Ian Bearce
Visual Effects Company: Eight VFX, Santa Monica
Executive Producer: Baptiste Andrieux
Producer: Marsi Frey
VFX Supervisor/Inferno Artist: Jean-Marc Demmer
Inferno Artists: Ryan Yoshimoto, Stefan Gaillot, Nicolas Cadorette Vigneau, Amalia Luyet-McMahan
2D Artists: Amalia Luyet-McMahan, Randy Little, Joe Chiao, DJ Fitsimmons
3D Supervisor: Fredric Hopp
3D Artists: Scott Metzger, Chien-I Kao, Matthias Jourdes
On Set Supervisor: Jean-Marc Demmer
End Title: Yann Mallard, Eight VFX
Editorial Co.: Jigsaw
Editor: Olivier Gajan
Assistant Editor: Robb Hoffman
Executive Producer: Sybil McCarthy-Hadfield
Sound Design: Gus Koven @ Stimmung
Original Music composed by Michel Gondry
Mix Engineer: Peter Rincon @ POP Sound, Santa Monica
Wow, thanks for the writeup on this fantastic commercial! It’s interesting to see just how many people are involved.
waiting to see Gondry brothers doing something together.