BLUE ROOM COMPLETES 'MEERKAT MANOR' PROMOS
Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins had its world premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival and is an homage to the Queen of the Kalahari, Flower, a meerkat who passed away last year in mid-season as she defended her babies.
Animal Planet provided Blue Room with footage of meerkats, as well as some Web and movie concepts. The network was looking for a whimsical promo and the resulting :30 piece features the animals bopping up and down to a quirky baroque meets hip-hop track. Red type elements contrast with the overall white look and introduce the special.
Brian Aumueller, creative director at Blue Room, says the studio got shots of the meerkats in their natural habitat, keyed them out and cleaned them up. Some of the elements are stills pulled from Animal Planet's print marketing campaign. Adobe After Effects and Photoshop were used in the creation of the promos.
The Blue Room team included CEO/co-partner/executive producer Chris Gargani, editorial director/co-owner David Gargani, EP Mark Mutschler, senior designer Steve Harper, senior composite artist Joonsuck Park, composite artists Jason Vallen and Leah L'Esperance, and producer Lauren Muir
A library track from Extreme Music was used for the underscore.