The Ebeling Group director-designer collective Nakd has rolled out a 1:30-second promotional spot for Nike new sports contact lens Maxsight from Bausch & Lomb. The mostly animated piece fuses black-and-white live-action footage with CG to take the viewer on a surreal journey through the complicated inner-workings of an athlete eye. The spot, which will serve as a virtual product demo showing the benefits of the sports lens, will be shown at optometrist offices and anywhere Nike Maxsight lenses are carried.

The action opens on a soccer player standing against a stark white background. Set to an electronic track composed by frequent Nakd collaborator Cypher Audio, the camera zooms into his eye, which is encased in a dramatic red contact lens. The viewer is taken even closer, finally entering the eye socket and traveling along colorful CG nerves and other circuitry. An abstract visual kaleidoscope follows of red, orange and green-tinted contact lens that twirl and twist across the screen amidst soccer balls, footballs, baseballs, golf balls and tennis balls, which become noticeably crisper and clearer when passing across the Nike Maxsight lens. The closing shots pulls the viewer back and out of the eye of a female tennis player, who smacks a flying tennis ball straight into the camera as the tagline ‘See Sport Better’ appears onscreen.

Said David Young, a design director with Nike, ‘The reviews from Nakd work are glowing and this piece has energized everyone who was involved with this Maxsight initiative?‚àö√ë‚àö√Üfrom the marketing folk to the sales force, on through to the doctors.’

For this piece, Nakd also oversaw a live-action shoot at the Nike World Headquarters in Portland, Oregon, involving a pro female tennis player and a male model. This footage served as ‘bookends’ to the CG segments, which was created by Nakd using a software package of Maxon Cinema 4D, Autodesk 3ds Max, Adobe After Effects, and EyeOn Digital Fusion running on Mac and PC computers. Rendering was done remotely at Rendercore.

About Nakd
Formerly out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nakd is now based in Toronto, Canada, where it is continuing the expansive vision of a company whose inspiration ranges from extreme color to wool sweaters. Nakd has produced live-action and animated TV and print work for clients including Nike, Japan Railways, TBS, Adidas, MTV, Bruce Mau Design, and AMC. Its music videos and innovative internal projects, including the 2005 short ‘Box,’ have screened at Resfest, Siggraph and onedotzero. The tenet held by Nakd designers and animators is simply: Be innovative. Always. For more information, visit www.nakd.tv.

About The Ebeling Group
The Ebeling Group (TEG) is an international production company with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Sao Paulo and Tokyo. The TEG roster includes world-renowned designers and directors MK12, Nakd, Lobo, LBA, Caviar, Convert and Caskey. These companies have been awarded with distinctions from The Art Director Club, BDA, The Clios and The One Show among others. TEG projects?‚àö√ë‚àö√Üand directors?‚àö√ë‚àö√Üare anything but ordinary. Internationally recognized short films, commercials, promos and music videos for clients including Adidas, Coca-Cola, Diesel, Levi, TNT, MTV, Nike and Ford have garnered accolades from the global design, production and advertising industry. TEG directors’s work has been showcased at Resfest, OFFF, FITC, onedotzero, Sundance Film Festival and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. www.theebelinggroup.com

Project Credits

Company: The Ebeling Group
Airdate: March 2006
Client: Nike

Title Of Spot: Nike Maxsight ‘See Sport Better’
Length: 1 minute 30 seconds

Production Company: The Ebeling Group / Los Angeles, CA
Director: Nakd / Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Creative Director: Stephen Crowhurst
Exec. Prod.: Mick Ebeling
Art Director: Chris Bahry
DP: Tyson Wisbrock
Producer: Sue Lee
Production Coordinator: Samantha Ferguson

Where: Nike World Headquarters
Stage Name: Brand Design Media Stage
City: Portland
State: OR
Other (Animated ?Äì very little live action was shot)

Visual Effects Company: Nakd / Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Creative Director: Stephen Crowhurst
Art Director / Lead Animator: Chris Bahry
Animator: Alexandre Torres Ramos
Compositor: Mike McDougall

Music Production Company: Cypher Audio / Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Composer: John Black
Arranger: John Black

Sound Design Company: Cypher Audio / Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sound Designer: John Black