August 2008
Bicoastal creative production company Stardust Studios recently produced a spot for Princeton, New Jersey-based ad agency Princeton Partners and their
clients at the Westchester Medical Center, which is located in Valhalla, New York. The :30 spot directed by Stardust's New York-based creative director Alan Bibby debuted regionally earlier this month, and is set to continue airing over the weeks ahead.
Under the creative direction of agency creative director Daniel Veltri, senior art director Will Pang, copywriter Saul Katz and senior producer Maria Amato, Bibby and his colleagues set out to create a visually arresting spot combining live-action footage with animated content to artfully show the hospital and raise viewer awareness of their talents, technologies and commitments to transforming healthcare.
"Our charge was to reintroduce Westchester Medical Center as one of the region's premier destinations for advanced care," explained Princeton Partners' Daniel Veltri. "We wanted to produce a spot that not only mirrored the hospital's cutting-edge technology, but also showcased this world-class facility."
After being awarded the project, Bibby and his team conducted extensive research on-location at the hospital, shooting live-action footage and stills that included aerial photographs, which were used to model the hospital in Stardust's original animated content.
They also shot talent and actual members of the hospital's staff on a green-screen stage in New York. "Our challenge was to make something that was interesting and exciting to watch, while also showing off the real rooms, space and equipment, where the equipment had to be 100% accurate," Bibby said. "Tonally, the animation had to be stylized, and at the same time, accessible to viewers."
For the post-production workflow, the live-action elements were assembled using Final Cut Pro, and Stardust's team then created the lavish virtual hospital in Maya and used Adobe After Effects for integrating the live-action into the animated environments.
"Being in the rooms at Westchester, meeting the doctors, techs and staff-- especially in the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital -- was all incredibly affecting,"
Bibby added. "Hearing that everyone who appeared in the spot loved the final piece meant a lot to each of us, and we're also very proud of the amazing job all the artists did on the piece."
"As an agency, we're not looking to work with people who simply deliver the story board presented, but the ones who bring fresh thinking, new ideas and enthusiasm to the project," Velstri concluded. "Alan, Mike Eastwood and everyone at Stardust were instrumental in helping us realize this vision. At the end of the day, it's all about working with great people who continually push each other to create the very best work possible."
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