Wicked Pixels takes TBWA Hunt Lascaris for a ride

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It's unusual, but almost the entire Wicked Pixels team in Cape Town spend their spare time surfing. In fact, if you work at Wicked, it's mandatory to take a few hours off work every Wednesday to go surfing. You'll see evidence of this in their bathrooms, where the shower is crammed with surfboards and wetsuits. That clearly worked in their favour for this new commercial, as the design and animation of the surfing sequence is highly detailed and very real.

Although rich in photo-real animation, the fast-paced live action car sequences were shot in and around downtown Joburg. “The crew was fantastic,” recalls Magda Roets, Senior Producer at Wicked, “their support and expertise really helped in achieving some of the tricky shots that Craig was after. The City of Joburg was very accommodating too and we love shooting there.”

Wessels believes the team at TBWA (Head of TV; Sandra Gomes, Creative Director; Adam Weber, Creative Team; Kursten Meyer and Verona Singh, TV Producer; Vanessa Anderson and Client Service, Helene Van Der Linde) were instrumental what was achieved, “They knew what they wanted creatively, and then gave us their trust and let us get on with the job.” They were a fantastic, focused team to work with and that helped in being able to deliver a great product on time and on budget.”

Check the spot out, click here.

Coming Soon
The two fun and quirky animated spots for one of SA's favourites, Mrs Balls (directed by Andrew Shaw of Wicked) via DDB are nearing completion, as are the three live action/2D animated commercials for Clover (animation direction by Hennie Blaauw of Wicked) for Bioscope Films via agency Joe Public, and a whole lot of 3D ice sculpture is being polished for a new Hunters Cider campaign via BBDO in CT.

News on the Design Indaba, Africa's premier creative showcase, is that Wicked has completed the 3D elements for the print campaign, and has started production on the TV commercial. The campaign makes use of inspirational creative thinking from The Jupiter Drawing Room CT, and ground breaking animation from Wicked - using 3D laser scanning and Protoform (rapid prototyping) technology to create 100% accurate, real life sculptures of selected designers and artists from around Africa. The full story will be published once the campaign is up and running.

Career Opportunities
Wicked continues to seek out top talent and is currently looking for experienced Producers, 3D Animators, Motion Graphic Designers and Art Directors to join their growing team. If you happen to be one, and are keen to explore your opportunities within this dynamic company, please click here.

To view Wicked's latest work, please check out their website, www.wickedpixels.com or to request a showreel, please click here.