The :30 was inspired by the real estate phenomenon known as
"house flipping," where would-be tycoons try to quickly buy and sell
properties. The promo combines live action and quirky animation, and shows
buyers pumping up their houses with an air pump. As the houses inflate, their
values increase. One overly-eager flipper goes to the extreme, pumping his
house up to the point it explodes like a balloon. "Flip or Flop?" the voiceover
asks as the next season is introduced. The promo closes with an overhead shot
of the animated neighborhood. Occasionally one house pops and disappears,
leaving an empty lot.
According to Wee Beastie creative director Chris McKenna,
the team shot greenscreen footage - DVCPro HD 30p on VariCam - at Cinemaworld
in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
"We chose 30p because I was worried about motion blur making
it difficult to rotoscope our actors should there be any problems with the
key," McKenna explains. "We figured we could always give the end result a more
film look if we needed to. Subjectively we really liked how the 30p turned out.
It added to the cartoon feel."
At the shoot, background plates were composited live using a video
switcher, helping to make sure camera angles were correct. Elements were
created using Adobe Photoshop and were composited using After Effects. The 3D
houses were all created in Maya.
Green screen keying was done with The Foundry's AE plug-in Keylight. The
air hose and For Sale sign were created using Maxon Cinema 4D.
Wee Beastie credits included executive producer Monica
Freriks, DP Marc Blandori and art director Rob Bischoff. Reality CG's Randy
Ramsey and Anwar Al-Asmi handled 3D.