Bicoastal creative production company Stardust Studios recently designed and produced a startling, powerful animated PSA to complement ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners’s ongoing, award-winning campaign for the California Coastal Commission. The :30 spot entitled ‘Non-Native Species’ is currently being made available to the media to help promote this year California Cleanup Day, scheduled for Sat., Sept. 16, and other related events scheduled to run through Oct. 8.

Last year campaign elements from the agency, which included posters featuring Audubon-inspired images of imaginary creatures made from trash, such as the CigEgret, SporkCrab and ColaBass, earned major 2006 One Show and Cannes Advertising awards. This year, the agency creative team, including creative director Jeff Goodby, associate creative directors Paul Foulkes and Tyler Hampton and producer Michael Damiani, called upon Stardust to stylishly conjure one of the creatures for a PSA.

‘Stardust has done a lot of great end-graphics work for us on the Comcast campaign, and we’ve really enjoyed working with them,’ Paul Foulkes explained. ‘For this year California Coastal campaign, we had this ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§miracle of birth gone wrong’s idea about the egg. We gave that idea to Stardust and worked with them along the way to refine it, but basically, they took that and ran with it to bring it to life.’

When the project was first discussed, Stardust executive producer Eileen Doherty immediately jumped onboard. ‘Because we are normally so focused on commercially driven work, the opportunity to work on a project that has the potential to do so much good for the environment instantly attracted us,’ she said. ‘We knew right away that this piece had the chance to motivate people to make a positive difference for California coastline.’

Stardust designer Kinda Akash and Doherty worked closely with the agency creative team to nail-down the spot concept. ‘The agency wanted something that looked realistic,’ Akash began. ‘As we looked further into the reality of putting a cigarette on a baby chick, and showing other aspects of pollution, we suggested a more stylized approach, which ultimately we all felt did the best job of showcasing pollution harmful effects.’

Akash and her Stardust colleagues, including animator Sam Sparks and effects artist Mikey Plescia, used Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for design, Autodesk Combustion for keying, Adobe After Effects and Autodesk Maya for animation, and After Effects for final compositing.

‘What I really like about the finished spot is its style; it not quite animation, but it not real either,’ added Tyler Hampton. ‘It draws people in, and then it’s quite eery once this creature comes out. Overall, it feels like something that will cut through the usual live-action things you see on TV.’

John Reese of Mophonics handled the spot sound design and musical composition, and final audio was mixed by Eben Carr of One Union Recording.

About Stardust Studios
Stardust is an award-winning creative production company, specializing in motion design, animation, visual effects and live-action production. Led by executive creative director Jake Banks, Stardust Santa Monica and New York offices continually redefine cutting-edge aesthetics for commercial, on-air, music video and in-store presentations. Their recent work ?Äì including projects for the world top ad agencies, brands and recording artists ?Äì has earned numerous awards and worldwide editorial exposure. For more information, please visit www.stardust.tv.

Credits
PROJECT NAME: California Coastal Commission ‘Non-Native Species’ PSA
RUNNING TIME: :30

AD AGENCY: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
CITY/STATE: San Francisco, CA
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jeff Goodby
ACD/ART DIRECTOR: Paul Foulkes
ACD/COPYWRITER: Tyler Hampton
AGENCY PRODUCER: Michael Damiani

DESIGN/ANIMATION COMPANY: Stardust Studios
CITY/STATE: Santa Monica, CA
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jake Banks
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Eileen Doherty
DESIGNER: Kinda Akash
ANIMATOR: Sam Sparks
EFFECTS ARTIST: Mikey Plescia

MUSIC/SOUND DESIGN COMPANY: Mophonics Music & Sound
CITY/STATE: Venice, CA
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Michael Frick
SOUND DESIGNER/COMPOSER: John Reese

FINAL MIX: One Union Recording
CITY/STATE: San Francisco, CA
MIXER: Eben Carr