Another feature in the March issue of Wired discusses "rotoscoping" – the process of painting over live actors to create cartoon characters with realistic movement. Charles Schwab had used this treatment in 2005 and I think another FS company has been using it recently (Citibank?).
It’s great to see more creative treatments making their way to the 30-second spot. After Blair Witch, we saw a lot of documentary-style spots, like Toyota’s recent Tacoma ads. We also did manga-style campaigns at PUMA for our 2002 football advertising.
As gaming goes mainstream – with corporations finally wake up to the huge untapped potential therein – it’s just a matter of time before we see more machinima-style TV ads. It would make perfect sense for brands that have crossover with a hardcore gamer audience – like Mountain Dew, Nike, or Scion, not to mention the console manufacturers. Some companies have gotten close – I remember a Volvo S40 ad with some in-game footage – but there’s an execution using a FPS approach out there just begging to be created (that doesn’t promote a video game).
Oh, and if you’re reading this and can point out examples where it’s already happened – please post links!!!
Tags: advertising, rotoscoping, manga, machinima