November 3, 2004

FOSSIL'S 'HOLIDAY' GETS 5.1 TREATMENT

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA - The Decibel Collective (www.thedbc.net) recently scored and mixed a :30 spot for Fossil featuring a 5.1 Dolby Surround soundtrack. "Holiday Spot" is airing theatrically, and in HD, throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.

Fossil's creative department in Richardson, TX, conceived the spot, which was shot against the music. The Decibel Collective later refined the arrangement, sound design and mix to better work with motion graphics created by Janimation (www.janimation.com) in Dallas.

Janimation created the graphic beats and pulsing imagery using a combination of Softimage|XSI and Adobe After Effects. The spot starts with a young woman in her apartment, playing an alternative rock guitar hook. As her DJ neighbor hears the music through the wall, he decides to join in and mixes in a beat and scratches that build into a full-on, lively groove that unites the music and graphics with swirling sound design elements. The commercial concludes with the slogan: "Truly Inspired - Fossil Authentic."

The dBc, a virtual music house, provided music direction to composers Chris White and Ged Flood, who are located in different regions of the UK. They were able to merge the work by uploading complete mixes and altering stems as required for review by Fossil and Janimation, in Texas. The dBc's mastering engineer, Steve Turnidge, completed the final 5.1 mix in Seattle, WA. Janimation credits include chief creative director Steve Gaconnier, animation producer Pete Herzog, production supervisor Mike Duffy, animator John McInnis, lead compositor Jenni Hudgens and compositor/designer Jimmy Gass.