Director Ania Hoffman Engages Emerging A52 Effects Artist Westley Sarokin for Nike Spec Spot Entitled "Full Moon" -- Lands Representation in Japan; Seamlessly Integrated CG Moon, Created in Houdini Using an Oren-Nayar Shader, Co-Stars in Gorgeous Spec

When recent Art Center College of Design graduate and rising director Ania Hoffman was facing the challenges of completing the spec spot that would elevate her reel to the level of the commercial industry's top professionals, she began searching for the best visual effects company in Los Angeles. With the key assistance from LA visual effects and design company A52 detailed in this story, the completed :30 spec spot is helping the Russian-born Hoffman emerge as a hot young director in major markets worldwide.

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB) July 17, 2003 -- When recent Art Center College of Design graduate and rising director Ania Hoffman was facing the challenges of completing the spec spot that would elevate her reel to the level of the commercial industry's top professionals, she began searching for the best visual effects company in Los Angeles. Soon after crossing paths with a commercial producer whom she says "swore by A52," Hoffman was introduced to A52 producer Leighton Greer. With Greer as a shepherd and with the enthusiasm of emerging young effects artist Westley Sarokin, Hoffman accomplished a major feat by attaching A52's team to her project.

The success of the recently completed :30 spec spot entitled "Full Moon" has helped the Russian-born Hoffman land commercial representation in Japan by production company Size -- and has also engaged her in a number of pitches. She is also currently negotiating for representation in other territories around the world.

In the spot, a basketball player stands on an outdoor court at night with the full moon hovering in the sky; as the sound of his heartbeat quickens, in slow motion, he runs and jumps, catches the moon in his hand while flying through the air... then dunks the moon through the hoop.

"Art Center sets the bar very high for quality, content and execution of student work," Hoffman said. "Rather than restricting creativity by setting thematic or production guidelines, the instructors constantly encourage directors to execute projects to the highest potential, both conceptually and visually."

Hoffman also explained that the project depended on seamless execution of visual effects for cable removal, sky replacement and 3D modeling of the moon, requiring significant pre-production planning, on-set visual effects supervision and hours of tedious post-production. "A52 took this project on a pro-bono basis, but they gave me the same dedication they give to any professional project. I simply could not have done the spot without their generous assistance through all stages of production."

"The film for this project was shot day for night," Sarokin began, "so almost every shot had to have the skies replaced and the backgrounds rebuilt or created... requiring extensive rotoscoping and paint work on every element. The main actor had to be cut out of all the environments so that background matte paintings and night skies could be replaced, color corrected and integrated into the scenes to create the illusion that the spot was shot entirely at night."

Since the actor was lifted through the air using a wire rig, wires and rigging had to be removed from a number of shots, and lights, reflectors and other production equipment also had to be painted out and replaced with clean backgrounds.

"The moon itself is entirely CGI," Sarokin continued, "created from high-resolution photographs of the moon and then modeled and lit with an Oren-Nayar shader which accurately models the reflective properties of the moon and gave us a great deal of control over glow, contrast and brightness to help integrate the CGI moon in the environments."

In the live-action footage, the actor was filmed dunking a soccer ball. "We tracked that soccer ball using 3Dequalizer," Sarokin added, "then placed our CGI moon over the ball and integrated it into the scene."

Finally, Sarokin color-graded the entire spot to match Hoffman's desired color palette, atmosphere and style.

"While my director of photography Jonathan Sela consistently does an amazing job of lighting and capturing beautiful imagery, Westley's talent, patience, dedication to the exploration of all possibilities to arrive at the best ones were invaluable contributions," Hoffman added. "He's extremely creative, has great instincts and a keen sense of color and composition. He sleeps less and works more than anyone I know - a testament to his dedication to the craft."

This project's CGI moon was created in Houdini and rendered using RenderMan. Sarokin used Discreet flame for compositing, rotoscoping, sky replacement, rig removal, matte painting, color-grading and the final online conform.

In addition to Sarokin, who served as Full Moon's visual effects supervisor, 3D animator and flame artist, A52's project team also included managing director Rick Hassen, executive producer Darcy Leslie Parsons and producer Leighton Greer.

Serving as this spec's writer and director, Ania Hoffman co-produced the spot with Kimberly Boyd with help from Renee Robson, and enlisted the talents of art director Curtis Beech, director of photography Jonathan Sela and editor Blue. Telecine was handled by colorist Rob Sciarratta at Santa Monica's Company 3. Sound design and the final mix are credited to Eric Ryan at RavensWork in Venice. Nick Brett handled rigging and stunt coordination. The actor is Shondel Larkin.

"I've been blessed to have found such wonderfully creative people," Hoffman concluded. "I'm grateful for their continuous support and look forward to possibilities of any future professional collaboration."

Having contributed to a number of challenging effects sequences on A52 projects, including campaigns for Adidas, Boeing, Chrysler, Ford, Nissan Altima and Maxima, Olympus, Playstation2 and Reebok, Sarokin made his theatrical debut as a visual effects supervisor last year on Todd Lincoln's acclaimed 35mm short film "Leave Luck to Heaven." The film has received worldwide acclaim, most notably appearing in the 2002 RESFEST.

About A52
Established in 1997 as a home for the very latest high-end photo-real visual effects technologies and the industry's most talented graphic design artists, West Hollywood visual effects and design company A52 creates award-winning imagery for the world's most visually ambitious commercial and music video projects.

The companys work has been honored as being among the very best throughout its marketplace, having received top honors from AdWeek, Advertising Age, Creative Review, Creativity, Shoot and Shots... and also having received AICP Show recognition for four consecutive years along with recent Outstanding Commercial" Emmy, Andy, Automotive Advertising, BDA, Clio, British Design and Art Direction, London International Advertising, One Show, PROMAX and International Monitor Awards.

For more information, please call executive producer Darcy Leslie Parsons at 310.385.0851.