To promote the new Virginia Lottery scratch game, which benefit the state public school system, FlickerLab participated in the scripting, created storyboards and designed and animated the high definition :30, ‘Camouflage.’ Developed by +SmithGifford (Falls Church, VA), and produced in both English and Spanish, the spot, starring the Pink Panther?‚àö√´¬¨¬¢, will begin screening on television August 13, and in theaters throughout Virginia August 6 (through Screenvision) and August 10 (through National Cinemedia).

In the spot, a mustachioed museum guard stands at the ready to protect the Virginia Lottery ticket on display. His nemesis, the Pink Panther, camouflaged by the gallery pink walls (an homage to one of the first Pink Panther cartoons), steals his cap, tosses it aside, and attempts to abscond with the valuable ticket, setting off security alarms. After hiding himself in the ticket, the unseen panther is able to pull the cap over the guard eyes and escape with the ticket that boasts a top prize of $12,000.

For FlickerLab, a development, design and animation house, Founder/Creative Director Harold Moss explained, ‘We are animators so of course we all love the Pink Panther. It is not an exaggeration to say that we were all jumping at the chance to work on this project. The classic Pink Panther cartoons are still some of the best animated shorts on television. We were thrilled to find that everyone at the agency was as intent as we were on capturing the style and sense of humor from the original. ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Camouflage’s communicates what it needs to and still manages to pack in a bunch of visual gags.’

Matt Smith, President and Art Director of +SmithGifford, added, ‘When you have a property as iconic as the Pink Panther everybody wants to work on it. We had to make sure that the firm we chose would know how to execute the animation, understand the power of the original, and could bring those equities to bear. We soon realized that the direction would be the difficult part of the assignment, not the animation. Lots of people can draw, but the direction, the performance, was critical. FlickerLab was not just the best animation house, but also the best director. That what Harold brought to the party, and he brought it in spades.’

The FlickerLab team included Director/Creative Director Harold Moss; Executive Producer Tammy Walters; Background Designers Max Porter and Bryan Cox; Storyboard Artist Frank Gresham; Animatic Editor Dan Rosen; Producer Franklin Zitter; 2D Animators Nikolay Nachev, Thomas Smolenski, Alisa Harris and Jessica Milazzo; and After Effects Animator and Compositor Bryan Cox.

FlickerLab utilized Adobe After Effects, Photoshop Illustrator and Flash; Apple Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro; Panic Transmit (file transfer software); PowerMac G5 Computers; iMac Intel Computers; Dell Ultrasharp 24′ wide-screen displays; Wacom Intuos 3 tablets and Wacom Cintiq Tablets in the execution of this project.

Representing +SmithGifford (Falls Church, VA) were President/Art Director Matt Smith, Creative Director Bruce Gifford, Copywriter Drew Magary and Producer Dana Cole.

The agency for the Spanish television spot was Elevacion (Washington, DC) represented by Executive Vice President Pablo Izquierdo.

Qorvis Communications (McLean, VA) was responsible for Account Management and Media, and was represented by Senior Director Karen Gauthier and Director Ingrid Vax.

Park Group (Richmond, VA) Mixer Eric Heiborg and Producer Jennifer Brooks were responsible for the final audio mix of the English spot. The Spanish audio mix was completed at Razorhead Music (New York, NY) and Mixer Luis Herrera.

The Henry Mancini Pink Panther film track underscores the spots and was licensed from MGM.

PostWorks (New York, NY) and Digital Media Coordinator Robert Judge completed the HD D5 tape transfer for the film version.

About FlickerLab:

Founded in 1999 as a design and animation studio, today FlickerLab principals, long-term collaborators and strategic partners employ their skills, technology and industry experience on a variety of projects be they concept-to-screen development and production, design and execution of commercials or broadcast promotions. In addition to high quality creative digital content development, FlickerLab works with clients to extend their project reach through advertising, Internet impact, online marketing, and merchandising.

The company portfolio includes high profile work for media and entertainment companies including A&E Networks, Bravo, Comedy Central, Discovery Home, Disney Channel, Lifetime, Lions Gate Productions, Michael Moore Productions, MTV, Nickelodeon, Planned Parenthood, The Cartoon Network and The WB, and product/service companies including Bassat Ogilvy, Continental Airlines, Grey Worldwide, Johnson & Johnson, McCann Erickson, Microsoft, Party City and Procter & Gamble, among many others.

Visit the FlickerLab website at www.flickerlab.com

Credit Sheet:
Airdate: Virginia — on television August 6; in theaters August 3 (through Screenvision) and August 10 (through National Cinemedia)
Product: Television / Theatrical release
Title: Camouflage
Length: :30

Description: A mustachioed museum guard stands at the ready to protect the Virginia Lottery ticket on display. His nemesis, the Pink Panther, camouflaged by the gallery pink walls (an homage to an earlier Pink Panther cartoon), steals his cap, tosses it aside, and attempts to abscond with the valuable ticket, setting off security alarms. Ultimately, the unseen panther is able to pull the cap over the guard eyes and escape with the ticket that boasts a top prize of $12,000.

Production Company: FlickerLab City/State: New York, NY

Creative Director: Harold Moss
Executive Producer: Tammy Walters
Background Designer: Max Porter and Bryan Cox
Storyboards: Frank Gresham
Animatic Editor: Dan Rosen

Producer: Franklin Zitter
2D Animators: Nikolay Nachev, Thomas Smolenski, Alisa Harris and Jessica Milazzo
After Effects Animator and Compositor: Bryan Cox
Sound Designer: Thomas Lino

Hardware/Software:
Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash
Apple Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro
Panic Transmit
PowerMac G5 Computers
iMac Intel Computers
Dell Ultrasharp 24′ widescreen displays
Wacom Intuos 3 tablets
Wacom Cintiq Tablets

Client/Advertising Agency:
Company: +SmithGifford
City/State: Falls Church, VA
President/Art Director: Matt Smith

Creative Director: Bruce Gifford
Copywriter: Drew Magary
Producer: Dana Cole

Agency Handling Spanish TV version: Elevacion
City/State: Washington, DC
Executive Vice President: Pablo Izquierdo

Account Management and Media: Qorvis Communications
City/State: McLean, VA
Senior Director: Karen Gauthier
Director Ingrid: Vax

Film-to-Tape: PostWorks (Did HD D5 tape transfer for film version)
City/State: New York, NY
Digital Media Coordinator: Robert Judge

Audio Post/English Version: Park Group
City/State: Richmond, Virginia
Engineer: Eric Heiborg
Producer: Jennifer Brooks

Audio Post/Spanish Version: Razorhead Music
City/State: New York, NY
Audio Mixer: Luis Herrera