SANTA MONICA, CA — Timber (timber.net) recently provided visual effects services for The Middle, a three-minute music video-styled spot for Target featuring Maren Morris, Zedd & Grey. The video premiered during a commercial break in the 2018 Grammy Awards on Sunday, January 28th.
The piece captures music artists Maren Morris, Zedd and Grey in their on-stage element, alongside dancers dressed in Target’s red-and-white color scheme. An LED backdrop and flashing floor add to the energy.
Under a very tight timeline, Timber collaborated closely with agency Mother in New York for the live- performance video. The project was produced by Radical Media, with Dave Meyers directing and Scott Cunningham serving as director of photography.
According to Jonah Hall, creative director/partner at Timber, the project was a whirlwind project for everyone involved.
“Schedules are really short for most things these days, but the scope of this particular project in this amount of time was really challenging,” says Hall. “Timber was asked to ‘book-end’ the project. Our first task was to design and create the elevator exterior animation that you see outside the glass windows as she rises upwards out of the hotel lobby and into the city skyline. We worked closely with director Dave Meyers, production designer Phil Messina and the whole team at Radical Media to work out a rear projection setup that not only looked convincing and visceral, but also lit our talented singer with specific colors and tones. We timed the visuals to the song, matching our tipping point to the exact moment that we arrive onto the stage. It was very exciting to see it up there on the screen during production.”
Once this was accomplished, the Timber team jumped into the second phase of the operation to handle post, finishing and visual effects.
“A big challenge was combining different pieces of the Target circle as seen from above,” Hall explains. “A big, beautiful shot like that really speaks to the language of Target as a brand, so we were excited to be tasked with such a great image.”
Timber credits included Flame artists Todd Mesher, Scott Johnson, Tim Bird, Chris DeCristo, Andymac, and Federico Saccone and artists Jon Lorenz, Brandon Lester and Jeff Willette. Jon Lorenz and Brack Hightchew handled CG. Brandon Harden, Brack Hightchew and Erik Rojas served as Flame assistents. Michelle Castillo was production coordinator.
Nick Gilberg at Cartel handled the edit, and Lime provided audio post services, with Jeff Malen serving as mixer. Stefan Sonnenfeld at Co3 handled color correction.