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:60 Action Animation B&W Crime Horror Internet Samples Software Storyboarding Tech VFX War March 31, 2020

Sophos – Cyber Security

Boy, those viruses, huh? They’re everywhere, trying to wreck our lives. Luckily Sophos is there to scan and sweep them away. From our computers, at least.

Creepy virus stalking the digital shadows

This was a fun, quick job that needed a very specific tone in order to convey the sense of dystopian angst- the directors sent references that were very film noir, very old school sci-fi, and it was pretty inspiring. What resulted was I think a very effective hybrid of modern tech and monolithic awe.

This was also a great fit for a new set of brushes I’d developed recently, it’s a more square and hard-edged feel, as opposed to my more fantastic and cozy style. It fit really well and made things a little easier on my execution. This was a 3-day job. Take a look!

What are we looking at? We zoom in from overhead and find ourselves in a massive stark technological landscape. Things are orderly and calm- until a creepy little bug/virus finds a weak spot and weasels in. He quickly grows and seeks to evade the AI sensors, but is soon detected. The AI deploys countermeasures to destroy the virus. But immediately, from the dead husk of the virus, a new bug evolves and emerges, rapidly multiplying even faster than before. A new swarm of bugs converges on the AI and the battle is joined in an explosive burst of light… the eternal struggle between good and evil continues.

I had a lot of fun with this. Thanks for checking it out! -Max

:60 Action Animals Animation B&W Campy Cartoons Females Humor iOS/Mobile Males Mobile Shoot Boards Sketch Storyboarding VFX Video Games War May 25, 2018

Lineage: Red Knights! Storyboards

A couple years ago, I had a great time working on a series of spots for a very popular (in Korea) game called Lineage.  The anthem spot was about a minute long and had lots of action and fun characters, and it’s the subject of this post.

The story goes- we find our hero protagonist “Bugbear” in the middle of a battlefield, who breaks the 4th Wall and calls out to us, the viewer, to witness he and his compatriots, with their powers combined, topple the evil Death Knight!  Though victory may be short lived- that’s the law of the land around these parts.  Witness!

And, here’s the final spot!

This spot had it all- fun characters, action, humor, sex appeal.  I love the sense of escalation, and the the way the final product came out is just really awesome- you can really see the quality in the craftsmanship of the animators and designers.  Such a great team!  Here’s some cool detail shots before you go:

Thanks, catch you next time!

-Max

 

:60 B&W Campy Cars Classes / Schools Cleaning Corporate Family Females Humor Internet iOS/Mobile Kids Males Pitch Boards Shoot Boards Software Storyboarding Synergy February 19, 2018

AT&T “Market Mishap” Storyboards!

A while back, I got called in to my good clients at DirecTV (now AT&T) to work on a spot for their Adworks campaign- a commercial about commercials! How funny!  But really, it makes sense to make sure your advertising dollars aren’t going to waste, right?  That’s why you hire ‘Ol Maxy, right? and then you use Adworks to make sure the Ads go in front of your target audience!  Otherwise, well… see below!

Our Hero “Ad Man” runs from setting to setting, doing his best to sell product to the most unmatched of buyers- with very predictable results.  But the laughs are an easy sell! Lol!

Here’s the boards!  I hope you enjoy them, this is some of my finest work!

Here’s the final spot!!

Yup, no matter how hard you try, Gladys at the nursing home isn’t going to buy your reduced price Lamborghini.  You just have to face facts!

This project was a little more extensive than most and we had time to board out some “B-Roll” if you will, with options for other shots to help sell up the humor a bit.  It was all optional and really, at the end of the day, humor depends on the performance of the actors and more, so you do a lot of alternative takes to see what works best.  But I did my part and boarded it out my best, to give it a fair shot at success.  So, next up you’ll see some boards that are disjointed in continuity but will hopefully spur a neuron or two and make you chuckle.  Enjoy!

 

:60 Action Animation B&W Drink Food Humor Seasonal Shoot Boards Storyboarding VFX February 17, 2017

Aldi “Christmas Carrot” Storyboards

In Los Angeles, Christmas starts in September.  If you work in commercial production, that is!  Indeed it takes a couple of months for projects to get greenlit and produced in time for airing during the holiday season.  So it was that last year I was working on a fun Christmas project for my clients at PSYOP- storyboarding the delightful tale of Kevin the Christmas Carrot- a character conceived for an Aldi holiday commercial.  Aldi, if you don’t know, is a popular European supermarket chain.

The commercial is really sweet and funny- a plucky little carrot just wants to meet Santa, and must brave the dangers of the Christmas dinner table in order to do so.  He dodges hazards of all kinds, and collapses next to Santa’s mince pie and brandy (it’s a UK commercial, so no cookies and milk in this one… in fact, it’s not Santa, it’s Father Christmas!).

It’s all self-explanatory and I’m really excited to show you the boards:

And here’s a link to the final video!

It turned out so great!  Looks like they opted NOT to go with the full widescreen aspect ratio.  I think it might have looked more epic if they did, but I can also see where the 16×9 is a little more suited for a sense of comedy, which was just as important.

There was a lot of brainstorming and tossing out all kinds of ideas that might work as potential hazards for the ‘journey’ montage.  Here’s a few that I thought were really clever (and well-drawn by me!)

What if he had to hop from a soup bowl past a few mugs of hot cider?

I had an idea that when the potato was about to fall on him, he could lay a breadstick across a gap to make a bridge.

It could be a cool action moment as he dashed across! Below, spiky hors d’oeuvres spell certain doom

He could even swing from the chandelier overhead!

It could be funny if he had to hide from a kitty!

Last one- What if we had a fun moment where he was intrigued by his reflection in the glaze of a fruitcake?

What a fun project!  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  This campaign tested so well, the client decided to make a sequel!  I storyboarded that one too, so I’ll post that when I have more time.

 

Till then!

 

-Max

:60 B&W Editorial Males Pitch Boards Products Samples Storyboarding Tech Uncategorized VFX July 19, 2016

Duracell – Pitch Storyboards

 

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Here’s one I’ve had on ice a while now- an old pitch, that we didn’t get awarded, and thus I’ve not really been able to present, but enough time has passed that we can risk a look at my work, and hope nobody minds.  It was a rare “throw your best efforts and time at this project” kind of assignment, and I had 3 days to turn around some serious quality work- presentation quality board for a pitch on Duracell, for an anthem-style spot, something epic and inspiring and durable- something to remember.

The creative concept for this project is a little abstract but also very effective- the engineering and precision that goes into Duracell batteries on the micro scale goes on to influence the engineering and precision on the macro scale further down the line.  Through juxtaposition of imagery, micro and macro, we see point by point comparisons of how the dedication of craft is passed through from creator to creator.  The narrative is driven visually so I encourage you to view the whole sequence and see if you can pick up on the intent.  I’m proud of this work and happy to show it to you, here’s the boards!

 

Hope you liked it!  On this project, the direction for whole spot was detailed out in dozens and dozens of vignette descriptions as provided by the creative director- shot by shot, and so I just did my very best to draw what was written.  It’s always amazing to me how talented directors can see the entire spot in their minds, and when partnered with a talented board artist, can really put together something special.   I loved this job, and what a shame it never got made.  Oh well, that’s how it goes!

:60 Action Apparel B&W Females Pitch Boards Samples Sport Storyboarding Uncategorized VFX June 20, 2016

Storyboards for Reebok Cardio Ultra

 

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Face it.  You gotta work out, and you gotta look good doing it.  Reebok’s got you covered- as evidenced by this fun spot I did a while back.

It’s beautifully shot (and storyboarded) and since it’s visually driven, it’s my favorite type of commercial.  These aren’t shoot boards, so it doesn’t match the final spot exactly, but they door capture the concept very well.  It’s speaks for itself and looks great, so lets check it out!  Here’s the boards:

 

The challenge with this spot was there wasn’t a full day to spend on it, so I had to kind of keep things loose, but it was also important to get a close approximation of a cinematic feel- and I think it worked out great!  Here’s the final spot!

Fun, fit and fashionable.  See you next time!

Thanks,

Max

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