The Briefing Room

To view: www.guerillafx.com/checkers.html

For Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc., the largest chain of double drive-thru restaurants in the United States and parent company of both the Checkers® and Rally’s® concepts, Guerilla FX has completed the 3D animation on a series of four :30 spots, “Toaster,” “Big on Chicken,” and “Lasso” and “Dollar Sign” (for which they also executed the editorial assignment). Developed through ML Rogers Agency (New York, NY), the commercials air on spot TV in up to 30 markets. “Toaster,” “Big on Chicken” and “Lasso” began airing November 19th and “Dollar Sign” will begin its run December 31st.

For all of these spots Guerilla FX’s first challenge was to define a style. Although they could have used a Tex Avery approach, they chose a 3D rendering technique that had both a sense of whimsy and provided a photo-real sense of the Checkers and Rally’s stores. “Our animations gave the brand a strong personality while allowing the buildings to do a number of outrageous things. Finding the right balance took a little doing. There were times in our R&D process when we crossed the line and took our animation to a place where it became a little too rubbery. As we wanted the animations to be strong and crisp, we had to pull back a bit,” Guerilla FX Creative Director Thor Raxlen explained. “Our technique worked especially well in ‘Big On Chicken’ and ‘Lasso.’ For ‘Big On Chicken’ we wanted to say that there is a lot of chicken taste here. However, the agency didn’t want to lose the sense of an actual building so we pushed the parameters as far as we could and played with the morphing of the building until it became ½ chicken and ½ store. I think that is why the animation is so effective. Stop on any frame and it is still a store, but because of the way it moves you feel it is a store with the heart of a chicken. In ‘Lasso’ you really want the drive-thru to feel as though it has the heart of a cowboy, and it does. These are sharp, playful little animations that add a great deal of fun to this commercial genre,” Raxlen continued.

ML Rogers Agency Creative Director/Art Director Mark Mueller added, “Guerilla truly gave Checkers a distinctive flavor of their own.”

Under the direction of Thor Raxlen the 3D Animations were completed at Guerilla FX by Senior 3D Artists Jesse Holmes (“Toaster”); Vance Miller (“Big on Chicken”); Jesse Holmes (“Lasso”); and Jesse Holmes and Vance Miller (“Dollar Sign”); 3D Artists Andy O’Donnell (“Toaster”) and Chaias Wong (“Big on Chicken,” “Lasso” and “Dollar Signs”); Compositors Stefania Gallico and Matt St. Ledger (“Toaster”); and Post Supervisor Jody Peters.

Representing ML Rogers Agency were President/Executive Creative Director Mike Rogers, Creative Director/Art Director Mark Mueller (all but “Toaster”), Creative Director/Art Director/Copywriter Brian Kelley (“Toaster”), Copywriter Joey Crawford (except “Toaster”) and Producer Steve Amato.

Guerilla FX utilized 3D Studio Max and V-Ray for the 3D work, After Effects for compositing and Final Cut Pro with Kona 2’s and 3’s for the editorial assignment.

The spots were filmed in New York City at Cine Magic International, Inc. (“Toaster”) and City Stage (“Big On Chicken,” “Lasso” and “Dollar Sign”) by Director Matthew Brady of The Artist Company (New York, NY).

Guerilla FX (New York, NY) Online Editor Linda Peters and Assistant Editor Adam Rust (“Dollar Sign”), Chemistry (New York, NY) Editor Robin Burchill and Assistant Editor Michael Carter (“Toaster”) and Chemistry Editor Bruce Ashkinos and Assistant Editor Matt Pollock (“Big On Chicken” and “Lasso”) handled the postproduction assignments.

Colorist Chris Ryan of Nice Shoes (New York, NY) handled the film-to-tape transfer for the first three spots. Colorist John Bonta at Company 3 (New York, NY) handled the transfer. On “Dollar Sign.”

Music and sound design were completed at Face The Music (New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA) and Executive Producer Adam Joseph, Composer Tony Shimkin and Sound Designers Tony Shimkin and Michael Schmidt.

Engineers Tom Goldblatt and Rex Recker of Audio Engine (New York, NY) completed the final audio mix.

About Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc.

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. (www.checkers.com) is the largest double drive-thru restaurant chain in the United States. The Company develops, owns, operates and franchises quick-service Checkers® and Rally’s® double drive-thru restaurants.

The Checkers®/Rally’s® 820 locations are known for their full-flavored, hand seasoned burgers, thick shakes and famous fries, and provide great tasting, fresh food with the robust flavors. Bottom line — it’s all about the food. That’s why the new tagline “little place. BIG TASTEsm” is such a great fit for the brand.

About Guerilla FX

Guerilla FX, an independent design, effects and post finishing company, is the natural out growth of the relationship created when 0:2:60 Executive Producer Doug Robbins first signed Visual Effects Designer/Editor/Director Thor Raxlen for commercial direction. Together they launched Guerilla FX in January 2006 and this uniquely creative, vertically integrated company now takes projects from preliminary discussions through the shoot, editing and effects. They have recently completed high profile projects for clients including Citibank, FedEx, Foot Locker, General Mills, Kyocera, Montefiore Hospital, MTV, Nexxus, Nike, Subway, TRESemmé, and Verizon, among many others.

Guerilla FX and 0:2:60 are headquartered at 121 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001. For further information about the effects and editorial facility, or the advertising production company, contact Theresa Loquercio at (212) 807-7123; and please visit the Guerilla FX website at www.guerillafx.com http://www.0260.com/ and the 0:2:60 site at www.0260.com

Credits:

Airdates: “Toaster” (11/19), “Big on Chicken” (11/19), “Lasso” (11/19) and “Dollar Sign” (12/31) — Will air on up to 30 spot markets in the Southwest and Midwest

Client: Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc.

Title of Spot(s): Checkers “Toaster,” “Big on Chicken,” “Dollar Sign” and ” “Lasso”

Length and # of Spot(s): four :30s

Description of Spot(s): Four sharp, playful 3D animated spots, which, combined with live-action footage, add some enjoyment and fun to this genre of commercial.

Agency: ML Rogers Agency

City/State: New York, NY

President/Executive Creative Director: Mike Rogers

Creative Director/Art Director: Mark Mueller (all but “Toaster”)

Creative Director/Art Director/Copywriter: Brian Kelley (“Toaster”)

Copywriter: Joey Crawford (except “Toaster”)

Producer: Steve Amato

3D Animation/Visual Effects: Guerilla FX

City/State: New York, NY

Creative Director: Thor Raxlen

Senior 3D Artists Jesse Holmes (“Toaster”); Vance Miller (“Big on Chicken”); Jesse Holmes (“Lasso”); Jesse Holmes and Vance Miller (“Dollar Sign”)

3D Artists: Chaias Wong (“Big On Chicken,” “Lasso,” and “Dollar Sign”) and Andy O’Donnell (“Toaster”)

Compositor/3D Artist: Stefania Gallico and Matt St. Ledger (“Toaster”)

Post Supervisor: Jody Peters

Equipment: Guerilla FX utilized 3D Studio Max and V-Ray for the 3D work, After Effects for compositing and Final Cut Pro with Kona 2’s and 3’s for the editorial assignment.

Postproduction: Guerilla FX

City/State: New York, NY

Online Editor: Linda Peters (“Dollar Sign”)

Assistant Online Editor: Adam Rust

and

Postproduction: Chemistry

City/State: New York, NY

Editor: Robin Burchill (“Toaster”)

Assistant Editor: Michael Carter

Editor: Bruce Ashkinos (“Big On Chicken” and “Lasso”)

Assistant Editor: Matt Pollock

Production Company: The Artist Company

City/State: New York, NY

Director: Mathew Brady

Location of Shoots: Cine Magic International, Inc. (“Toaster”)

City/State: New York, NY

and

City Stage (“Big On Chicken,” “Dollar Sign” and “Lasso”)

City/State: New York, NY

Film to Tape: Nice Shoes

City/State: New York, NY

Colorist: Chris Ryan

Music/Sound Design: Face The Music

City/State: New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA

Executive Producer: Adam Joseph

Composer: Tony Shimkin

Sound Designers: Tony Shimkin and Michael Schmidt:

Audio Post Production: Audio Engine

City/State: New York, NY

Mixer: Tom Goldblatt and Rex Recker

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