NEW YORK - Mad.house recently completed post production on a spot for 2K Sports promoting it new videogame, "Major League Baseball 2K5." The commercial, titled "Capture," takes a humorous look at how 2K Sports gets such realistic gameplay in its videogame titles.
In "Capture," Yankees star shortstop Derek Jeter is shown taking ground balls during a spring training workout. A 2K Sports van bursts through the outfield wall and skids to a halt, right next to the World Series MVP. Before Jeter can escape, he?s thrown into the back of the van.
Glenn Martin, directed the commercial, which features the voiceover "Nobody captures the best in baseball like 2K Sports - the number one rated sports series of 2005."
Mad.house editor Kathy Horne recalls meeting the tight delivery deadline: "We received dailies Wednesday night, and by the following Thursday had a :30 and a :15 to networks," says Horne. "I actually began editing from QuickTimes made from the video assist, because the dailies were delayed, due to snow - that bought us about five hours, and then I just eye-matched everything later that evening when the actual dailies arrived."
Typically, Horne says the studio will do a rough assembly of the videogame footage - along with VO and some sound design - before the live action shoot even takes place. Creating this skeleton of the spot allows the director to get an idea of timing prior to the shoot.
"Because we have the game footage available sooner, it makes sense to select these shots in advance, play around with the feel of the cut, get a jump on it," Horne explains.
In addition to the edit, Mad.house also handled sound design and mixing, calling on the talents of Ed Riew, (who also provided the VO) and JD McMillin. Director of design Lisa Kwon, created all the titles, while VFX artist Chris Davis color-corrected the game footage, conformed the spot in Discreet Smoke, and created the transitional effect using Flame.
RDA's Brian Musich and Dave Rogan were creatives on the project which can be viewed on Mad.house's Web site: www.madhousenyc.com.