Whole Grain Nation II was produced and
posted by Guerilla FX and features people in both rural and urban environment,
touting the benefits of whole grain in General Mills' Honey Nut Cheerios, Chex,
Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Total, and Lucky Charms cereals, among others. Imagery
of grain is also composited onto buildings in several scenes.
Guerilla FX director/creative director Thor Raxlen says part
of the challenge in producing the spot was finding a wide variety of locations
that represented the entire country, while staying in close proximity to NYC.
Additionally, the spot has a springtime feel in spite of a major storm dumping
snow in the New York area.
"We had to get really creative with where and what we could
shoot," notes Raxlen. "A lot of the footage was lensed with hand-held cameras
and long lenses, which allowed the camera to discover our subjects. We had only
eight days to complete this job, and everyone gave their all - the Guerilla FX
team and the agency folks as well."
The spot was shot on 16mm film on location in New York City, Pelham and Mount
Vernon by a Guerilla FX team lead by Raxlen, executive producer Doug
Robbins and DP Joplin Wu. Raxlen also edited the project in Final Cut Pro.
Adobe After Effects and Photoshop were used for effects work.
Guerilla FX's Jesse Holmes and Jason Yantz served as
compositors on the job. Linda Peters was concept designer and Jody Peters
served as post supervisor.
Colorist Victor Mulholland of Company 3 in New York City completed the
film-to-tape transfer.
AudioEngine's Joe Vagnoni handled the final mix. Stock imagery was
provided by Getty Images.