The Briefing Room

San Francisco, CA – (April 17, 2008) – Spy Post recently contributed ambitious design and visual effects artistry to the cinema, broadcast and web components of a new Lexus 2008 IS F cinema and web campaign created by global creative and brand-engineering agency ATTIK. Directed by the agency’s co-founder and creative director Simon Needham, the innovative campaign stylishly introduces the IS F to auto enthusiasts. It’s six :15 spots pose the question, “What is F?” and then cinematically focus in on the vehicle’s key attributes.

To dramatically hail the vehicle’s most thrilling features, Needham and his colleagues at ATTIK designed the HD ads specifically to take advantage of the big-screen environments and movie theatre surround-sound capabilities. Since debuting last month via National CineMedia’s FirstLook pre-feature program, the spots have screened on more than 13,200 screens nationwide, while also being picked up by various Lexus distributors outside of the U.S., including Australia, Puerto Rico and Canada, and appearing on high-profile broadcast and online venues. To view the Lexus IS F campaign and select stills, please go to: http://ftp.spypost.com/Lexus/

Having previously collaborated with Spy Post and VFX artist Alaina Goetz on many visually challenging projects for Scion, ATTIK readily turned to Spy Post to handle this campaign’s ambitious VFX-related facets. ”These spots have an organic quality to them, and the challenge was to have Spy Post add and polish the visual effects without taking away from the big, bold look and feel,” said Michele Morris, ATTIK’s head of Production. “Alaina’s title treatments and VFX definitely accomplish this.”

For this project, Goetz served as VFX Designer/Compositor, and together with her colleagues Joe Henke, VFX Supervisor and Head of CG, and Producer Geoffrey Sawyer, provided on-set VFX supervision at the two-day shoot in Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California.

“We removed everything from the background so the IS F was against black, and added anamorphic lens flares and lighting effects,” says Goetz. “Each spot told its own story about the car with a unique tagline and end type, which we designed in collaboration with ATTIK. All of the spots conclude with the same end bumper, where the car drives along a highly stylized strip of road before pulling up and stopping in front of the camera.”

The main technologies utilized by Spy Post were Inferno and Flame, After Effects for offline compositing and motion graphics, and Flame for compositing with Flame plug-ins for lighting effects.

“It was great to collaborate with ATTIK again on this high-profile campaign,” concludes Goetz. “Simon and I have worked together a number of times, and were on the same page creatively. He encouraged me to add my own flair and style, which was a nice vote of confidence.”

Project Name: 2008 Lexus Is F Cinema/Television Campaign

“Blue Flash,” “0-60,” “Connect The Dots,” “Laps,” “Blips” And “Open Window” (6 X :15)

Airdates: “Blue Flash,” “0-60,” “Connect The Dots,” “Laps” — debuted 3/7 in theaters and on web with VO; “Blips” and “Open Window” — debuted 3/28 in theaters and on web with VO, and ran along with “0-60″ and “Laps”; spots also edited into :30 and :15 dealer ads for TV, all began airing on 3/7

Client: Lexus

Lexus National Interactive & Automotive Events Manager: Brian Bolain

IS F Launch Manager: Justin Hood

Lexus Media Administrator: Jennifer Mathis

Agency: ATTIK/US, San Francisco, CA

Co-Founder, Creative Director, Director: Simon Needham

Head Of Production: Michele Morris

Senior Account Manager: Andy Giles

Production Company: Bandito Brothers, Hollywood, CA

Director: Simon Needham

Director of Photography: Chris Sargent

Executive Producers: Mike Mccoy, Peter Trucco

Line Producer: Rocky Bice

Where Shot: Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, CA

Editorial Company: Pistolera Post, Santa Monica, CA

Executive Producer: Elvia Gaitan

Editor: Patrick Sheffield

Visual Effects and Finishing Company: Spy Post, San Francisco, CA

Executive Producer: Lori Joseph

Producer: Geoffrey Sawyer

VFX Designer/Compositor: Alaina Goetz

VFX Supervisor: Joe Henke

Flame Artist: Orin Green

On-Set Technical Consultant: Eric Swenson

Telecine and Color Correction Company: Riot, Santa Monica, CA

Colorist: Clark Muller

Executive Producer: Rhubie Jovanov

Sound Design Company: Machine Head, Santa Monica, CA

Executive Producer: Vicki Ordeshook

Sound Designers: Stephen Dewey, Johannes Hammers, Kip Smedley

Surround Sound Mix Company: Lime Studios, Santa Monica, CA

Producer: Jessica Locke

Mixers: Loren Silber (Blue Flash, 0-60, Connect The Dots, Laps), Rohan Young (Blips, Open Window)

www.spypost.com

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