For A&E Network one-hour feature special ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter, The Year of the Dog,’ FlickerLab, the New York-based development, design and animation studio, created graphics and a special effects shot for the A&E promo which began airing on December 26, 2006 to promote the January 2 Special.

FlickerLab high-speed, live-action shot of a Chinese fortune cookie, (celebrating 2006 ‘Year of the Dog’) traveling through space and crashing on a tabletop was composited with 3D fortunes bouncing out of the cookies. The A&E promo introduces the year of tears and triumphs and never before seen footage that comprised the one-hour special that looked back at 2006, one of Dog’s most tumultuous years. The special also included new scenes and revealing commentary by Dog, Beth, and the rest of the posse.

FlickerLab Founder/Creative Director Harold Moss explained the process. ‘We had an extremely fast turnaround time. The job awarded on a Tuesday night and our team just pushed through until Friday morning. We shot high speed, 35mm film of the cookies smashing. To create that we had 10 people standing around intently focused on the smashing of cookies, and the development of new techniques for crumbling cookies. Sometimes our job can be kind of amusing, if not significant and weighty. We built a 3D model of the cookie to match up to the live action, the animated fortunes and mapped them in. ‘

A&E Senior Producer of On-Air Promotions, Degan Snyder said she was extremely pleased with the graphics created by FlickerLab. ‘They are great listeners,’ she said. ‘They understand what you are asking for, and they always cook up something that is even better than what you had envisioned. They are extremely fast, collaborative, and just really nice people to work with. That combination is hard to find in this business.’

The FlickerLab team included Director/Creative Director/Animation Director Harold Moss; Executive Producer Karen Stewart; Technical Director/AD Peter Wallach; Designer Max Porter; Producer Blythe Frank; Associate Producer Scott Brewster; 3D Animators John Volny and Fran Krause; Director of Photography David Griffiths; and, Sound Designer Tom Lino.

FlickerLab utilized Adobe After Effects and Photoshop and Autodesk 3D Studio Max in the execution of this project.

Representing A&E were Vice President On-Air Promotions Valerie Albanese and Senior Producer Degan Snyder.

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.

www.flickerlab.com

Credit Sheet:

Product: A&E Networks
Title: ‘The Year of the Dog’ animated national promo
Airdate: premiered December 26, 2006

Description: High speed shoot of a fortune cookie dropping through space, smashing on a table and revealing the fortune inside. Fortunes detail highlights of the ‘Year of the Dog’ Special for Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Production Company: FlickerLab
City/State: New York, NY
Director/Creative Director/Animation Director: Harold Moss
Executive Producer: Karen Stewart
Technical Director/AD: Peter Wallach
Designer: Max Porter
Producer: Blythe Frank

Associate Producer: Scott Brewster

3D Animators: John Volny and Fran Krause
Director of Photography: David Griffiths

Sound Designer: Tom Lino

Hardware/Software:
Adobe After Effects and Photoshop
Autodesk 3D Studio Max

Client: A&E
City/State: New York, NY

Vice President on-Air Promotions: Valerie Albanese
Senior Producer On-Air Promotions: Degan Snyder

Film-to-Tape: Technicolor
City/State: New York
Colorist: Tim Stipine