Buck: Contractopia

Construction contracting has to be one of the driest possible topics for a commercial spot, right up there with accounting and insurance. Despite this, Buck managed to pull off a minor miracle for ServiceMagic.com.

contract.jpg

In about four weeks, a team of eight designers and animators whipped up this delightful romp through an imagined world of perfect contracting. Stylistically, Buck’s minimally shaded CG world of harmonious, soothing colors underscores the message of simplicity suggested by the spot’s voice over. The effortlessly fluid character animation also builds on the idea of expertise and confidence that Service Magic purportedly facilitates.

The look-and-feel is reminiscent of Buck’s excellent ID campaign for TV Land. In both cases, Buck showcases its penchant for smooth transitions and its ability to balance animation and design.

About the author

Justin Cone

/ justincone.com
Together with Carlos El Asmar, Justin co-founded Motionographer, F5 and The Motion Awards. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with is wife, son and fluffball of a dog. Before taking on Motionographer full-time, Justin worked in various capacities at Psyop, NBC-Universal, Apple, Adobe and SCAD.

6 Comments

THA_DON

mmm ok I like this one. The colors are nice, the animation flow is nice, and even the sections where they had to put in the boring stuff, the laptop scene- obviously on cleint request still looks good.
After watching this, you feel the personality of Buck coming through. This is what its all about.

KGB

Harlan Hogan on the VO?

doe

Well done and looks great, but the character design immediately reminded me way too much of The Incredibles.

iline

What shader produces that look? Is is carefully coloured phong, or a customised toon shader? I’m trying to get the midway between toon/vector look and ambient occlusion in my own 3D, and when studios like buck do it so well, you have to start asking questions.

KGB

I think I’ve gotten a similar look for a spot we just worked on…
Its fully lit material with the only shading coming from an ambient occlusion map.
Or at least thats what I think it is.

KGB

.hmm… well, maybe 90%self illuminated

Comments are closed.