UVPhactory Creates Spot For MTV Made My School Year Contest

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September 16, 2004 -- Building on the success of an earlier collaboration on MTV’s 2003 “Icon: Ultimate Fan Contest,” the network has returned to UVPHACTORY (UVPH) which created and produced a :45 commercial promoting the “MTV Made My School Year” contest. The spot began airing August 30th and will continue to be broadcast throughout September.



UVPHACTORY, with its expertise in broadcast design, channel branding and packaging, and 3D design and animation, has directed the shoot for this spot.



“Alex Moors and Colin Hess created the concept which employed graffiti scrawled all over a school - on the chalk boards, bathroom walls, windows, desks, lockers, door frames - to make the copy points. We directed the still shoot, which took place in the halls and classrooms of a New York City high school, and, as time was tight, we worked with a high-end Nikon mega-pixel camera which allowed us to keep all the content digital and to work very quickly,” explained UVPHACTORY Senior Producer Brian Welsh. “We used the 17 mega-pixel images to create the high school environment, then animated graffiti onto the stills and assembled them to create the high school universe for the spot which offers a prize of $10,000 for the winner; $25,000, plus a variety of other perks, for the school; and gear from Footlocker for the entire class. To give the footage a sense of having been run through a school projector, we also utilized a slight pixel-blur and ’vignetted’ the corners of the images,” Welsh added.



“The MTV brief suggested that learning could be an entertaining as well an educational experience…ideas not generally associated with one another. Our challenge was to create a spot that was school oriented, well designed and delivered the message – while maintaining the spontaneous MTV feel. Luckily, we had access to a high school. For reference material we shot hundreds of images of student graffiti. We wanted the spot to look ‘un-designed’ - to utilize graffiti which looked like it was created by people who know nothing of drawing or typefaces. We wanted the images to resonate with the kids we were trying to reach. This gave the spot freshness,” stated UVPHACTORY Creative Director Alexandre Moors. “At the end of the day this is a very serious contest - ultimately providing dollars to schools to buy books and enhance the educational environment. So we were challenged to create something fun, learning oriented and respectful.”



UVPH’s Bashir Hamid added, “Alex and Colin established the spot’s feel with their boards. Then, using concepts created by Alex, I had to illustrate the main points of the contest. For example, we shot footage of two sneakers moon-walking and spinning which I took into the computer and output as frames and then, using different color inks and pencils, illustrated on top of those images which gave us an idea of the timing and the motion. The VJ animation also required a motion test. I created the graffiti and went into 3D to produce a rough model using Dynamics software and Softimage XSI to make it explode, then output those frames as images, and used them as an outline as I hand drew each frame in the graffiti style. To illustrate yet another copy point, I drew a student – glasses, tie and vest – and using AfterEffects, animated him jumping at the screen and biting at the camera. “ Essentially, we used the computer throughout to get the timings and motion down and then output the frames, printing them out, and finally illustrating on top of them,” he added.



MTV Networks On-Air Promotions Producer Jason Roth said of his experience working with UVPHACTORY, “This project came up very quickly and had a very fast turnaround. With only a bare bones creative brief, I approached the UVPHACTORY team and they immediately came up with a few different highly graphic executions. We decided to combine their ideas. I wrote a script, which was basically a skeletal outline of all the stuff you could win, and told them to go nuts. Their graffiti concept was the perfect way to tell this story. They created an 80’s John Hughes-like high school film vibe – riffing on the graffiti concept. They made it happen and, as usual, did an extraordinary job.”



The UVPHACTORY creative team included Executive Creative Director Scott Sindorf; Technical Director Damijan Saccio; Creative Director Alexandre Moors; Senior Producer Brian Welsh; Senior Designer/ Animator Sean Donnelly; Designers/Animators Ryan Bradley, Bashir Hamid, Colin Hess, and Ofer Ravi; Illustrators Bashir Hamid and Colin Hess; Editor Damien Baskette; and Photographer Luis Bruno and his assistant James Petrozzello.



UVPHACTORY utilized Softimage XSI v.4.0, Adobe After Effects 6.5, Apple Final Cut Pro 4.5, Adobe Photoshop CS and Adobe Illustrator CS in the completion of this project.



Representing MTV Networks was On-Air Promotions Producer Jason Roth, who also served as Copywriter, and Production Manager Matt Giulzezan.



The musical underscore was composed by Dan O’Sullivan of Ear Goo (New York, NY).



About UVPHACTORY

UVPHACTORY is a New York-based design and production company offering a complete range of creative services including conceptualization, live-action direction and production, editorial, 2D/3D animation, sound composition/design and final compositing for broadcast, commercial, film, music video and web clients.



Since the company’s formation in 2000, UVPHACTORY has attracted a diverse client base including AT&T, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CBS, Cendant, Cinemax, Cingular, Coca-Cola, Comedy Central, ESPN, FOX Sports, General Electric, HBO, IBM, IFC, Miramax, MTV, NBC, Scripps Networks, SCI FI Network, Showtime, USA, US Cellular, VH1, and VOOM HD Network, among many others.



UVPHACTORY is headquartered at 44 Trinity Place, Suite 3, New York, New York 10006; Phone 212-483-0040; Fax: 212-483-9371. For more information, or to see a reel, contact Senior Producer Brian Welsh. Visit the UVPHHACTORY website at http://www.UVPhactory.com;