2009 has been a happy year for Cirkus

We roamed the world getting to know new interesting people, created time for the Exquisite Corpse opening up new opportunities and infusing Cirkus with new talent and ideas. We’ve added a Liontamestress, Hoolahooper, Dwarfthrower, and a Puppeteer to our troope of performers -broadening our palette. Strongman Scott is settling in New York despite “that crisis” - enabling Cirkus to service the USA and Europe in their own time zones.

The Comfort work is maturing both in character animation as in its “appearance” by means of flexible thinking and the “experience” factor. Other highlights are the QMM project, the CAT Westrac and the Landcorp projects. Small budgets can go a long way if there’s a good idea and an open mind to the production approach.

2010 will kick off with a flashed up Cirkus website (finally!) and a new

viral to kick start the year’s Promo tour. For now, from all of us, thanks for your support and enjoy your silly season!

Cheekily yours, The Cirkus team

COMFORT BIG DAY KEY VISUAL

Andy in a bustling street scene to finish 2009 – more exciting Comfort work to be released early next year!

Exquisite Corpse

Juggler Christian Greet likes a continuous camera move…

Introducing...

Toni Chase the Hoolahooper! Toni graduated from Unitec recently and Cirkus fell in love with her work immediately. Currently she’s working on a Cirkus “special” with Dwarfthrower Daniel Wu and Puppeteer Joe Helmore: all to be revealed next month. Welcome to the Cirkus Toni!

Exquisite Corpse 9

Eva Radke from Film Biz Recycling (USA) came up with the following storyline;

Georgio O'Keefe, grown and old even, emerges like a newborn from the dark, central spot of the cave flower. Helga grabs her sword and severs the newborn/old artist from the umbilical cord. Chicken eats the afterbirth (and yoke), sprouts a feather - resembling a desert flower - the petals multiply and fill the screen.

We like weird! You can sue Dwarfthrower Daniel Wu & animation director Joe Helmore. Check out this episode here!

True Local – Facial Book

True Local hops on the Facebook bandwagon as this commercial shows. Share your favorite places with all your friends and family! Too easy.

Another Big Day in Comfort Land

Bigger, better and EPIC. In this episode, Lily is having a baby with soon-dad-to-be-Andy going on a mad rush trip to the hospital to be at her side; still smelling fresh and fragrant after his ordeal. The Comfort boys Layne Howe, Chris Lyne, Boris Plateau, Matt Pitt, Merlin Lepper, Dale Hobson, Daniel Wu, Timo Lenton and New York Strongman Scott Wilkinson worked around the clock to get this commercial out. Awesomeness guys!!

Ringmaster and Bearded Lady @ the New York Boards Summit

Ringmaster Marko and Bearded Lady Craig have returned from a successful New York Boards Summit trip. This year Cirkus made an effort to make the venue a happy place. Jean Loscalzo of Supercreator.com dressed up our booth in Cirkus style and well… have a look yourself but we think she did a magnificent job!



Magic Brian performed in front of our booth during the networking break of the Summit to catch the crowd’s attention. Jokes and laughter all around when he dressed himself up in a straight-jacket, betting his own one hundred dollars he would escape within a minute. Here's a photo of Magic Brian, a movie is coming soon!

Big Cat

The majority of animation work tends to cater to the cute and designy. We jumped to the opportunity to create this BIG BOYZ TOYZ spot for Brand agency. Josh Edge and Rikki Burns wrote the script for Westrac Cat and gave petrol heads Christian Greet, Joe Helmore, Matt Pitt and Daniel Wu free range to release some of their testosterone. We are now looking forward to animate the Battle of Kursk!

Landcorp online

Animation director and resident trapezist Timo Lenton animated a cute and charming on-line viral, created for The Brand Agency / Landcorp.

Exquisite Corpse No. 8

The of the year is nearing and we're at episode 8 already! This time Daniel Wu, one of our very own animators writes;

The phoenix catches up to the dragon in no time and shoots right past it. The dragon catches just the tiniest bit of contact with the
phoenix and is set on fire. Dragon then freaks the hell out and throws
Bavarian Hilda and Chicken off of its back. Both Hilda & Chicken lands just outside of an entrance of a cave, they step in to find a dead end with a wooden door painted in a blinding shade of gold, slivers of mysterious light streaks can be seen crawling through the gaps of the doorframe. They wonder....

This episode is the most feminine yet.. just have a look for yourself here!

Ringmaster, Bearded Lady and Strongman to attend New York Boards

And we’re off again. Producers Craig Sinclair and Marko Klijn will join Scott Wilkinson to attend the Board Summit of which Cirkus is a sponsor. The Cirkus Booth will be both beautiful as entertaining!

Check out the Boards summit @ www.boardssummit.com

TRUE LOCAL CAMPAIGN

A little, quirky campaign for BMF Australia promoting Truelocal on-line service on TV, have a look :)

EXQUISITE CORPSE: 7

This month we have chosen the storyline from Alan Xi and goes as follows;

"As the blue blob (now a worm like creature) struggles to crawl along the side of the hills with difficulty, a bird suddenly swoops down and eats it. Immediately the same blue feathers from earlier start sprouting all over its body as it morphs into a phoenix and flies after the dragon."

Steven Lin, student animator from AUT Auckland, designed/modeled and rigged and textured the bird and phoenix models. Fellow Student Jonathan Chen created the storyboard and stop motion animation of the worm.

Animation and compositing on this episode was handled by Joe Helmore, Christophe Brebion and Juggler Christian Greet. So there you have it: BIG effort this time around – check out the models and other assets, WIP’s @ the Exquisite Corpse FTP (passwords can be found on the Forum under "welcome")

Check out the episode here!

CIRKUS FIND TRUE LOVE

A new performer has joined the Cirkus! We are thrilled to announce Bangkok based Ingrid Truelove, will represent Cirkus in Asia as the newly baptized Harlequin. Having climbed through the ranks of TV Production at numerous Sydney advertising agencies, Ingrid moved to Bangkok 2,5 years ago to follow her love.

Since then she has been representing a US film production company (Moxie Pictures) across the Asia region and recently, she expanded the roster to allow some of the most highly regarded production companies in the world permanent exposure in Asia, through The A List.

Since calling Thailand her home, life has undertaken some major changes, swapping weekends filled with Bills Breakfasts, Bondi-Coogee walks for Bangkok street food and island hopping in The Andaman.

Aside from Bangkok being a city full of colour, movement and spirituality (and traffic!), it is become recognized globally as the creative and production hub for Asia. Ingrid: “It is an exciting time to be here and I look forward to bringing Cirkus to Asia!”.

Ingrid can be contacted on mailto:harlequin@cirkus.co.nz

RINGMASTER & HARLEQUIN @ SPIKES

Marko and Ingrid will attend Spikes 2009 in Singapore to learn, watch and mingle with the creative crowd. Check out this event @ http://www.spikes.asia

MATTS MUSIC VIDEO

Matt the dancing Monkey is one of the great Cirkus animation directors. He has been responsible for many of the Comfort animations as well as other high profile Cirkus projects. Outside Cirkus Matt continuously works on side projects.

Check out his music video from the 2009 release Standing in Silence by Rhian Sheehan where a deconstructed music box melody draws you in to a beautiful but ultimately haunting sonic journey.

PINK VARIANT VIETNAM

Yours in fruitiness!

EXQUISITE CORPSE: NEW WEBSITE + EPISODE 6!

It is finally here: the new Exquisite Corpse website! We have been developing this concept with a focus on more interactivity from you, the potential contributors.

Right now there is a direct access the Exquisite Corpse FTP where you can download the working files used in the EC and a chance to have a play with them. If you are keen to help out and/or add animation or design to the EC, get your flash of fame and upload your fruits of your labour back onto the FTP. Your work may end up in the final cut!

Another new feature is the forum, where you can comment on all the work being completed. Go ahead and comment on the episodes, check out what is being worked on by everyone and get involved: at the forum you can spill your animated beans, converse with fellow fans and let people know if you have uploaded something new to the FTP.

While we are talking about the EC, we have launched episode 6 and we are on our half year mark. Among the entries we have chosen Tiffany Sun’s entry as she offered up to help animate this storyline:

A submarine flies across the sky and crashes into the dragon. The dragon lets out a roar and swings the submarine onto the mountains. A blue blob crawls out of the submarine and falls face down on the side of the hills.

Tiffany took control of stop motion. Human Cannonball Christophe did the dragon animation and the compositing was handled by Daredevil Chris. Sound design once again by Entirely Sound in Auckland!

So get onto it and check out the new website and the 6th episode of the EC!

YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME...

You win some, you lose some. Nice character design for this pitch. Maybe for something else one day….

BACK FROM CANNES

After over a week packed with inspiration and sunshine, Marko and Chris have returned to NZ from the Cote d Azur.

The Cannes International Advertising Festival hosted ad makers from the world over, interacting in screenings, panel discussions and functions. The parties and nightlife were also used to full advantage (she’s a hard life...). Cirkus was introduced and talked about. Who knows what will come out of this. Anyways, a great time was had by all! We like the blurry effect on the photos caused by sunscreen.

EPISODE 5 OF EC!

Episode number 5 is up and running. Adding to the ongoing randomness was this months story from Tess Bos:

Marvin the cat opens the door of his spaceship and invites his buddy Giraffe in. They head off for the mushroom cloud. At the summit we see Bavarian Hilda and the Chicken riding the dragon whilst harvesting flowers.

Combining rotoscoping, 3D modeling, animation and compositing, this episode is most colourful and quirky. It blends together the talents of Christophe Brebion, Jay Potgieter from Auckland AUT (good on ya Jay!) Trista Townsend and Matt Pitt. Strong sound design provided by Kahra Scott-James, accentuating our efforts.


Check out the Exquisite Corpse on the web. We are on just about all social networks possible, so take your pick:

Youtube

Facebook

Twitter

JULIAN STOKOEs VIDEOCLIP

Check out Exquisite Corpse director Julian Stokoes latest music vid for Greg Johnson. Thias was a collaborative animation created with a group of illustrators called Watermark over a period of 8 weeks. Nice 1 Julian!

Video can be viewed here

It is a Rainy Day

Animating rain, wet and drabness for this Indonesian Comfort tvc. Nice to instill a bit of grunge for a change! VIDEO TO COME!

TELECOM XT MOBILE

For Telecoms new XT Mobile campaign, the script and directors brief called for the hero Richard Hammond to be placed in a Test Drive centre - a virtual, high-tech digital world.

Cirkus worked closely with Saatchi & Saatchis Craig Farndale, Connan James and Director Adam Strange to create the clean lined, glassy, reflective and modern environment that fit the brief. The project was not without its technical challenges - the team had to build in as much subtle sophistication as they could while working with a primarily white environment and additionally having the floating screens projected imagery working clearly and legibly against the pale background.

Cirkus then supplied elements to Flame Artist Nigel Mortimer to help create the final 3 x 60 second commercials.

EXQUISITE CORPSE - 4

Wow… time flies when you are having fun, No. 4 already!
This month we go walkabout with Amy Thextons story of Whybin TBWA Auckland:

The feather catches fire, melting a helpless George into a technicoloured pool. From his liquid remnants grows a vivid forest of bizarre flowers and plants, which unfurl skyward until they dwarf the mountains. Chocolate chip cheetahs, gingerbread giraffes and liquorice snakes wind their way through the thick foliage

Ok…this was a challenge but we did it anyway.
Mixing up stop motion, 2D and 3D rendered this quirky wildlife skipping around in a colourful world. Nice 1 Julian Stokoe, Merlin Lepper, Christophe Brebion and Trista Townsend.

Once again sound design from Kahra Scott James of Entirely Sound from Aotearoa!

What happens next? Enter your storyline here please !

QUEENSLAND MOTORWAYS

Earlier in the year, Cirkus pitched successfully on Queensland Motorways Free-Flow campaign to agency Cummins Nitro, Brisbane. The campaign calls for numerous commercials rolling out over several months to introduce the easy flowing traffic effect caused by Free-Flow Tolling (pre-paid with tag or video matching).
Headed up by Animation Director Christian Greet, Cirkus created a specific render look with smooth lines, animating patterns and rhythms of symmetrical flowing cars to Queens - Dont stop me now.

CADBURY CANADA

Check out Cadburys online bicycle factory we helped out to character animate for Chuck Gammage animation ex Toronto Canada.

http://www.thebicyclefactory.ca

CANNES 2009

OK already, we will go!
We need to catch up on our buoy to buoy swimming.
Animation Director Christian Greet mailto:(juggler@cirkus.co.nz)and Executive Producer Marko Klijn mailto:(ringmaster@cirkus.co.nz)will pitch up the Cirkus tent at the Cannes International Advertising Festival and are keen to meet you in person.
See you there!

HUGGIES BLOCKBUSTER WINS BRONZE

The Cirkus troupe paid the Axis Awards a visit last month. Producers and Animation Directors dressed up in their best outfits and mixed and mingled with the NZ advertising crowd. The cherry on the cake was ‘Huggies Epic’ winning bronze!

We’ll re-enter next year for Huggies ‘Recycle Nappies’ to score the gold.

QMM CONCEPT ART

There is something quite beautiful about raw concept art that gets made at the very start of a pitch.

CONTORTIONISTS LAST CIRKUS TRICK

The flexible Contortionist has left the Cirkus... New opportunities, exciting challenges. Viktoria Berryman says she had a great time at the Cirkus and is sad to be leaving but new adventures are waiting upon her! Viktoria has been mother hen for the past few years and this task is going to be taken over by the resident Lion Tamestress, Felicia Brunsting. Contact her for any office, marketing or advertising related inquiries on mailto:liontamestress@cirkus.co.nzor 0064 9 486 0865.

A CUNNING COMFORT STUNT

How satisfying when you find out the work produced renders measurable results!
Check out this film highlighting the impact Comfort Campaign has made in the Asian territory. See the introduction into Clothworld, the launch in Vietnam and right through to Andy and Lilys dream wedding – AND – featuring a real life-size Andy and Lily in Vietnam! Please check out the video below:

Cirque d’Auckland

Ahhh…


Cirkus Auckland has been strengthened with a Frenchie. Christophe Brebion will be complementing our (character) animation team. Christophe has a strong 2D cell animation background.

EXQUISITE CORPSE AGAIN CONTINUES…

The EC continues with a follow up from Carl Thelin, Common Communications Shanghai. This third storyline was selected by Cirkus Bearded Lady Craig Sinclair and Ringmaster Marko Klijn at Adfest 2009.

Carl won himself a Magnum of Milltons Bio Dynamic 2000 Chenin Blanc wine. Here are a couple of Carls words on his big victory - I couldnt have dreamed of walking away from a bottle that good. I think about a dozen people shared it with me, but I still drank nearly half the damn thing myself. I was still working on it, drinking straight from the bottle out in the parking lot outside Peach when I got spotted by an Australian Director who mistook me for a serious party animal and hauled me off to get up to some mischief with a gang of Aussies. We eventually parted ways and I ended up at the JWT Shanghai party where I made the mistake of having two martinis. I had an early flight the next morning, which was not a good thing.

Seems like Carl had an awesome time! If you would like to see the animated version of his storyline for the Exquisite Corpse or think you can work that wine better; please visit the Exquisite Corpse page .

BACK FROM OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE

Cirkus ‘Ringmaster’ Marko Klijn (EP) has returned home to the Cirkus from a fulfilling trip oversees doing a bit of networking, visiting agencies and getting the word out on the ‘Exquisite Corpse’.

Starting at the Lynx Awards, Marko took time to visit some of the agencies of Dubai. From the desert to the humidity of Thailand, Marko attended Adfest 2009 where he joined Bearded Lady at the Cirkus booth in the production corner to meet Asian Pacific Creatives,, Directors, Producers and Account Managers.

CIRKUS SET UP BOOTH AT ADFESTS PRODUCTION CORNER

From Dubai it’s on to Bangkok, where Marko will join Bearded Lady Craig Sinclair.



At the Adfest festival in Pattaya, Cirkus will once again pitch up a booth at the production corner to showcase our services, latest work and do a bit networking. Check out our last years booth!

CIRKUS TWITS

Yes that’s right - you can now add us to your Twitter account - visit http://www.twitter.com and search for CirkusAnimation! We will update our page during the day with news on jobs, festivals, our interactive project ‘Exquisite Corpse’ and more!

WHAT THE?

The Cirkus ‘Freak’ and ‘Bearded Lady’ traveled to Thailand to oversee Comfort ‘Amplification’. For this production we were required to animate and integrate Andy into a live action world. We can only but praise the Thai team for the effort to recreate a green Andy for the talent on set. For once, the offline is more entertaining to watch!

MARKO AT DUBAI LYNX AWARDS

Ringmaster Marko Klijn will be once again travelling to the Eastern parts of our planet to attend the Dubai Lynx Awards Festival. Cirkus has entered this year with the Comfort Chase Amet tvc, which shows rock star Andy from Cloth world being chased by ensuing paparazzi. Marko will be in Dubai until the 18th of March to meet and greet and learn.

COMFORT PARIS TOWER

Just nice on its own...

WHATS ANOTHER YEAR

This is what the great poet Johnny Logan sang on the 1980 Euro Song Contest. But before we go too deep, here it goes for Cirkus:

Crisis, what crisis? The tides at Takapuna beach remain unchanged, we’re having a great summer with the Pohutakawa in full blossom and birds merrily chirping.
Meanwhile, Animation Director Scott is manning New York office brilliantly, and Cirkus spread the word @ Spikes, Adfest and Boards. Highlights surely are the completion of Huggies with a coupla golds won thus far at the Singapore Creative Circle, the increased quality of the Comfort work – both in it’s character animation and it’s rendering - and the Cirkus Promo ; looking forward to create a sequel for 2009. After all we are Cirkus and expected to stand out from the crowd!