For the SPEED CHANNEL and their new 30-minute weekly reality series, Shooting Cars, design and animation studio FlickerLab has created a riveting, Hollywood-style, high-speed journey for the series opening animation and graphics package.

Scheduled to begin airing nationally mid-September 2006, the series is based on the exploits of Gino Lucci, Columbo Saggese and their team at Picture Cars East (Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY) who customize and rent their fleet of 300+ vintage, exotic police and first aid vehicles, city busses, taxis, tanks, riot vehicles, and one of a kind creations, and supply stunt drivers, to the film, television, advertising and video production industries. The weekly series will follow new assignments from initial contact, through the delegation and preparation of the automobiles for the likes of The Devil Wears Prada, War of the Worlds, Law & Order, and Michael Clayton, George Clooney next film, among many others.

The show open begins with Gino and his longtime partner Columbo racing through Manhattan streets in a blue Mustang amping up the speed as they go. Fiery objects fly past them. Godzilla just misses crushing them as they tear through the busy streets. Gino reaches for the ‘nitrous’ switch and ‘go baby go’ the car shoots into overdrive, tops out at about 315 mph, flies through the ‘Danger Brooklyn Bridge Closed’ sign, off the ramp and scatters representations of the company employees and series creators standing outside the shop before the car smashes into the windows of Picture Cars East and the speedometer resolves to the name of the new reality show, Shooting Cars.

‘I tried to imbue the Shooting Cars package with numerous filmic references like alien invasions, lasers, exploding objects, a brush with a Hollywood monster, and, the big money shot, the car flying off the Brooklyn Bridge. The package, done in photo-collage, had to have the feel of a blockbuster film, exciting and fast paced with a high-speed chase. The nitrous button provided the Mustang with the super power boost it needed to jump the Brooklyn Bridge before crashing into the Picture Cars East shop,’ explained FlickerLab Animation Director Eric Merola. ‘I have always worked primarily in a photo-collage 2D world. In the past my work has been character driven but this project gave me the opportunity to create a full scale, high speed chase through the city which involved a lot of extra details including an in-depth two day photo shoot which I needed to create the 2D photographic background through which this car files. I lensed a 1970 Mustang Boss 429 from every conceivable angle, the folks at Picture Cars East even put it on a lift so I could photograph it from underneath for the bridge jump shot. Communicating my humor and sensibility through facial expressions and character actions, when a car is the character, made it interesting and one of the most challenging projects I have ever tackled,’ he added.

Speakeasy Entertainment Producer Tony Anzivino said of his experience working with FlickerLab and Merola, “FlickerLab jumped through hoops for us and what they came up with was incredible. People are loving the show in pre-screenings, and everyone is blown away with what these guys created. Mike and I can’t speak highly enough about the FlickerLab team. Eric Merola is extremely talented. Franklin Zitter and the whole team is always ready to get to the table, void of creative attitudes and just make things come together for a final product that everyone can be real proud of. They’re a friendly, driven group of people that we look forward to working with on two new shows that Speakeasy will be launching in the fall.”

Harold Moss, FlickerLab Managing Partner/Creative Director, stated, ‘Shooting Cars was a perfect project to unleash Eric’s over-the-top pop culture sensibility and high-octane visual style. In 30 seconds he managed to capture all the jumping, racing, exploding, smashing, and assorted mayhem these cars really endure.’

The FlickerLab creative team, headed by Creative Director Harold Moss and Executive Producer Tammy Walters, included Eric Merola who wrote, designed, directed and animated the project on After Effects, and Producer Franklin Zitter.

FlickerLab utilized Adobe After Effects and Photoshop, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Panic Transmit, PowerMac G5 Computers, Apple Display 20′ monitors and Wacom Intuos 3 tablets in the execution of the open and graphics package.

Representing Speakeasy Entertainment (New York, NY), creators and producers of the weekly series, were Creator/Executive Producer Michael Tadross, Jr. and Producer Tony Anzivino.

SPEED CHANNEL was represented by Vice President of Programming Bob Ecker.

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, or 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.

About SPEED CHANNEL
SPEED CHANNEL, celebrating its 10th Anniversary in 2006, is the nation’s first and foremost cable network dedicated to motor sports and the passion for everything automotive. From racing to restoration, motorcycles to movies, SPEED delivers quality programming from the track to the garage. Now available in more than 70 million homes in North America, SPEED is among the fastest growing sports cable networks in the country and an industry leader in interactive TV, video on-demand, mobile initiatives and broadband services.

FlickerLab is headquartered at 7 West 18th Street, 4th floor, New York, NY 10011. For additional information, or to see a reel, contact Managing Partner/Executive Producer Tammy Walters at [email protected] or by phone at 212 560-9228. Visit the FlickerLab website at www.flickerlab.com