Phoenix Editorial & Designs Cuts Powerful PSA Campaign for "Flex Your Power"

San Francisco, CA, June 21, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Phoenix Editorial & Designs has wrapped editorial and VFX on a four-spot TV campaign for “Flex Your Power,” California’s energy efficiency marketing and outreach initiative. Via ad agency Brainchild Creative, the PSAs were helmed by directing duo Riess/Hill (Chris Riess and Amy Hill) of production company Gartner. The spots “California” and “Climate” broke June 11; “Drought” and “Floods” break July 2.

In order to capture the most believable performances possible, Brainchild Creative and the directors decided to cast real people who had only limited acting experience, and to work with a fairly loose scripted dialogue. While the combination of those two dynamics allowed the directors to capture a high degree of poignant reality, the footage required an editor who is a storyteller to assemble everything in an effective way.

Said Jef Loeb, Creative Director & Senior Writer, Brainchild Creative, “Bob Frisk was an integral part of our creative team - he’s one of the best editors out there and, together with the rest of the Phoenix staff, not only executed our vision but elevated it. From the seamless VFX work--including a particularly tricky shot in which Phoenix constructed a giant CG jumbotron in post - to producer Sheila Smith’s buttoned-up and never-say-no approach, I can’t say enough positive things about our collaboration with Phoenix.”

If we don’t reduce energy consumption today, the generations of tomorrow will live with the consequences. This message is conveyed via beautifully lensed montage sequences of solitary children at play alongside TV sets carrying the faces and voices of a not-too-distant future. The TVs, which appear in living rooms and more unusual locales, like partially submerged in a lake, or as a miniature inside a dollhouse--screen the video wills of adults leaving behind floods, global warming and other man-induced natural disasters, to their progeny. The spots end with the adults vowing to take responsibility for the California they leave their children. The Flexyourpower.org URL and a title card with an energy efficiency tip, closes the PSA.

Said Bob Frisk, editor, Phoenix Editorial & Designs, “This campaign was interesting in that I was cutting three different timelines—there was the main live-action footage of children shot on 35mm at high speed, the seven hours of ‘video will’ sequences shot on video that was incorporated into each scene, and finally, the overall narrative of the story. With such an immense amount of material, so many puzzle pieces to put together, and with only a week and a half to turn around four spots, I couldn’t have done this without the brilliant creative premise set forth by Brainchild and the help of the directors. They communicated their ideas to me clearly and provided such beautifully art directed and arresting images from which to work.”

Phoenix Editorial & Designs edited the campaign, designed the closing end-graphics and title cards and composited the video will footage into each scene. Creative editing was completed in Avid Media Composer. Boujou bullet and Autodesk Maya were used for tracking, and Adobe After Effects used for compositing and motion graphics. All the elements were brought together and finished in Autodesk Smoke.

About Phoenix Editorial & Designs
Phoenix has been a mainstay in the San Francisco creative production community since 1991. With a roster of award winning editors, creative directors, graphic designers and effects artists, Phoenix works with creative-driven advertising agencies including Venables, Bell & Partners, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Publicis & Hal Riney, Heat (formerly Black Rocket), Duncan/Channon, AKQA, and McCann. The company produces spots and HD design packages for Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, PG&E, Palm, Toyota, HP, EA, Sega, McDonalds, Coke and Sprite. For more information about Phoenix, contact executive producer Jonathan Hinman at (415) 394-7777 or visit http://www.phoenixedit.com/.

About Flex Your Power
Flex Your Power is California’s statewide energy efficiency and conservation program. Now in its sixth year, the effort utilizes public outreach, advertising and online marketing tools to engage the state’s consumers in saving energy, money and the environment. For more information, visit http://flexyourpower.org/.

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Credits

Client: Flex Your Power
Spot Titles: “California” :30
“Climate” :30
“Drought” :30
“Floods” :30

Airdate: June 11, 2007 for “California” and “Climate”
July 2, 2007 for “Drought” and “Floods”

Advertising Agency: Brainchild Creative/San Francisco, CA
Creative Director/Writer: Jef Loeb
Agency Producer: Annie Uzdavinis
Art Director: David Swope
Account Director: Deborah Notestein Loeb

Production Company: Gartner/Santa Monica, CA
Director: Riess/Hill
Exec. Producer: Rich Carter, Don Block
Head of Production: Elaine Behnken
Producer: Rocky Bice
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Shoot Dates: May 19-21, 2007

DP: John Toon

Editorial Company: Phoenix Editorial and Designs/San Francisco, CA
Editor: Bob Frisk
Executive Producer: Jonathan Hinman
Producer: Sheila Smith
Motion Graphics Design: Bobby Van Dyke
Visual Effects Artist: John Crossley, Bobby Van Dyke, Matt Silverman
Online Editor: John Crossley

Telecine: Clark Muller at Riot/Los Angeles, CA

Sound Design/Audio Mix: Andy Greenberg at One Union/San Francisco, CA