To assist The American Legacy Foundation in its mission to build a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit, FlickerLab, created an animated spokes-leaf, star of two :45 spots, "American Leaf" and "Be My Friend," which began airing nationally on Comedy Central, September 9th .
Led by Founder/Creative Director Harold Moss, the New York-based development, design and animation studio developed a faux "tobacco industry mascot," in the animation style of a 50's commercial. "The spokes-leaf's voice is ragged - he's smoked too many cigarettes - and he is jaded, worn out and used up by a lifetime of pumping for big tobacco," explained Moss. "This job had it all - great clients at Comedy Central and The American Legacy foundation, fun scripts, and best of all, the aim of the spots was to give the tobacco industry a nice kick in the pants. I lost my dad and an aunt to smoking, and have wrestled with quitting myself since I was a kid, so that was a kick I helped land with real satisfaction. We do all sorts of commercial work at FlickerLab and always have fun with it. But being able to make spots that use our humor and animation chops to have an impact, well that speaks to the whole reason FlickerLab came about in the first place. We were grateful for the chance to work on the campaign."
Comedy Central Senior Writer/Producer Lesley Keene said of the collaboration, "FlickerLab was the obvious choice for this project. Not just because they're extremely talented, creative and flexible, but also because when it comes to smart-ass anthropomorphic talking tobacco products, they really know what they're doing."
The FlickerLab team included Creative Director/Director Harold Moss; Executive Producer Karen Stewart; Senior Producer Melissa Johnson; Animation Directors Phil Lockerby and Nikolay Nachev; Technical Director Franklin Zitter; Designers Max Porter, Scott Gursky, Brian Cox, Phil Lockerby, Nick Bertonazzi and Zartosht Soltani; 2D Animators Phil Lockerby, Nikolay Nachev, Nick Bertonazzi and Claire Samuels; Composite Artist Eric Merola and Sound Designer/Mixer Tom Lino.
FlickerLab utilized Adobe Flash, Photoshop and After Effects, and Apple Final Cut Pro in the execution of this project.
Representing Comedy Central (New York, NY) were Bob Pederson, Vice President-On Air; Darry Logan, Writer/Editorial Director; and Senior Writer/ Producer Lesley Keene.
Chris Philips provided the voiceover for the spots.
About FlickerLab
Founded in 1999 as a design and animation studio, today FlickerLab's 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, 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's 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.
FlickerLab: https://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/7892