August 22, 2006 - Los Angeles: Director Clark Anderson of Rhythm + Hues Commercial Studios has completed a new spot for BBDO/New York and Nasonex. Set to the classic "Flight of the Bumblebee", "A Day in the Life" is a fully cg spot that opens with the Rhythm + Hues redesigned Nasonex bee flying around a garden. It's fall and a woman shaking out a rug in her yard sneezes as her dog looks on. The bee (voiced by Antonio Banderas) reminds us that allergens are hard to avoid and leads us inside the house. Once inside, a man sitting next to his cat sneezes. He takes Nasonex and goes to bed symptom free.

"My biggest attraction to the Nasonex job was the rare opportunity to take an established national campaign to its next creative level," says Anderson. "This included redesigning the main (bee) character, creating a new look and pushing all aspects of the animation, lighting, choreography, storytelling and performances. We had a challenging deadline, but with strong collaboration between the teams at BBDO, R+H and the Nasonex clients, I think we achieved what we all set out to accomplish....and more!"

"Being a 'combo' live action and FX/animation director, it is rare that I take on all-CG spots, but this one felt like a challenge with lots of potential to plus the existing campaign," Anderson elaborates. "I approached the design phase more like a live action project than an animation project. In animation, we usually do a lot of drawing to design the environments, props, characters, etc. But this time, knowing that the agency wanted a semi-realistic look, I did the pre-production with my live action team of location scouts, production designers, set decorators, stylists, etc., presenting the agency with selected photographs versus drawings. This helped so much to clarify and accelerate both the design phase and the modeling phases of the project, that I will probably use the methodology again for other future projects."

"We had great fun working with the agency and Antonio Banderas in bringing new life to an existing campaign," says Executive Producer Paul Babb. "This project was a perfect marriage of Clark's elegant directing and our team of animators and designers all working together to fashion a new and distinct look, still delivering the spots in an incredibly tight schedule." The spot began airing in August '06.

ABOUT RHYTHM + HUES COMMERCIAL STUDIOS

A complete digital studio, with live action, CG animation and vfx, design and post production services, Rhythm + Hues Commercial Studios draws upon the talent and technical firepower of one of the world's premier effects and animation facilities, Rhythm & Hues Studios. Adjacent to the 70,000 sq. ft. facility which houses hundreds of digital artists and staff, the 7,000 sq. foot boutique facility of Rhythm + Hues Commercial Studios is dedicated to the highest quality of commercial production and outstanding client support.

Recent commercial projects include Crayola, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Volkswagen, Glade, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Chevrolet, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, SeaWorld, Activision and LeapFrog. Recent Film Division credits include Superman Returns, The Fast and The Furious 3: Tokyo Drift, Garfield 2 and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Films currently in production include Charlotte's Web, Night at the Museum, Evan Almighty, Happy Feet, The Golden Compass and Kingdom.