PORTLAND, OR - Bent Image Lab (www.bentimagelab.com), the animation lab/live action production house that launched in October of 2002, bringing together talent from both Vinton Studios and Curious Pictures, recently completed work on four spots/station IDs for regional affiliate UPN 49. The low-budget campaign began airing in early 2003 and contains "Plumber" (:30), "Dentist" (:15), "Heimlich" (:30) and "Housefly" (:20).
According to supervising director /partner Chel White, Bent met with designer Steve Sandstrom, who created the cube logo for Channel 49 station ID; Craig Miller, UPN 49's creative director; and writer/creative Craig Opfer of Magnito.
"The client initially wanted to use animation for the spots, but my ideas were screaming ‘live action,'" says White. "Most station IDs are grandiose. I wanted a look that was decidedly non-grandiose. I wanted to show the logo in an unexpected way, one that would appeal to a 16 to 35-[year-old] demographic. Something small, ugly, and disgusting."
White created the concept for and directed "Plumber." He also conceived "Heimlich" (directed by live action director Kazuo Ohno), "Housefly," (directed by Ohno) and "Dentist" (directed by Bent partner Ray Di Carlo).
Jim Barrett of Downstream Digitalin Portland handled the color correction and Wade Evans onlined the project. Dan Kim of UPN 49 provided sound design.