Zoic studios recently collaborated with Smuggler’s directing team, StyleWar, and advertising agency McCann Erickson to produce "Career Path," a 30-second spot announcing the opportunity to win an internship courtesy of MasterCard. The spot employs a stylized blend of live action and CG animation to depict the career search of a college graduate as a board game of choices.
The ad begins with a view of the boldly colored, living, breathing, game board world, equipped with plastic palm trees, townspeople and a volley ball net. Our hero, donning a "College" sweatshirt, moves from square to square, making key choices that will determine his success in the work force.
The collegiate game piece is making all the right moves and even resists the final temptation, merely glancing at the frat house toga party before bobbing on to the path of success. He does not pass "Go" and collect $200, but in the end lands on the square that reads, "Winning an internship that gets you ahead of the game: priceless." Viewers are encouraged to enter the contest at www.mastercard.com for the chance to win an internship in the movie, music or sports industries.
Zoic built the CG game board world based on the concept and direction StyleWar and McCann Erickson outlined. In a two-day blue-screen shoot, principal actors were covered in liquid latex to give the game pieces a plastic look. The sutdio used footage from this shoot to create the animation surrounding the central character, which involved overseeing the creation of 30 models, the production of 3D animation and extensive compositing.
The spot can be viewed at http://client.zoicstudios.com/HYPE_pr/Mastercard.
