Visually, the spots were big fun to produce, and we’re pretty happy with how well we were able to replicate the look (not to mention the actor!)… Thanks to our two beauties Johanna Smith and Leslie Ellison, and to Leslie Alexander for hair-makeup. Thanks to Gray Haddock for camera and to Drew Lewis for general production assistance. (Co-directed/co-produced by the usual double vision of Zane Rutledge and Jeff Stolhand.) Guitar track amazingly knocked off by the classically-trained B.Z. Lewis of Studio 132.

We did contribute a couple of original variations we were proud of, including the “guitar” joke used in the final spot. Our favorite not-yet-used: “He not only smokes smokeless cigarettes, he smokes cigaretteless cigarettes.” And: “He once delivered the entire works of William Shakespeare…with only a look.”

I’m really proud of the whole cast and crew. Leads were Trevante Rhodes as our architect (this young man is going places) and Hector David Becerra (fantastic as well) as our radio-controlled car designer/engineer. Apologies to the glorious Fadya AlBakry for ending up on the cutting-room floor (as well as the floor of our set!)… I will be cutting some of that footage for other “reel” purposes, I promise. Awesome secondary performances by Karen Jagger, Bobbie Ragsdale, Mike Morgan, and Tim McKinney.  Lensed by Drew Barerra (DP and Steadicam operator), lit by Justin Hall (gaffer), and shepherded by Matt Joyce (1st AD), this Shaggy Welch-produced spot was originally pitched by the Boss Wench herself, Josie Collier. (Thank you Josie, for trusting me to step in and sculpt the creative and then direct an inspiring feel-good video.) Thanks also to Ima, Allie, Mary, Billie, and Shiraz. And super kudos/big thanks to BZ Lewis/PopTuna for the awesome music track!

I really enjoyed the heck out of this one, on many levels. And I think it shows. Here’s to more like this.

As you’ll see in this one-minute clip from Nuclear Family, “The Wall” is a big bit of story. Not only are our heroes struggling to survive in a barbaric fallout aftermath, they are apparently trapped as well. The story was supposed to suggest a massive construction project that still somehow went up quickly. So… we went for “Great Wall of China” + super high chain-link/barbed wire + security. And viola.

Of course the source for the matte painting was actual Great Wall photography. Then we removed some depth from the wall, some recognizability in terms of era/style, and of course then added all the metalwork. (The fence doesn’t buzz as badly at 1080p.) Luckily the hills of China were also a color-correctable match with the Southern California hill country where the film was shot.

Nuclear Family is a lot of fun in a genre I adore. The film stars Corin Nemec (Parker Lewis Can’t Lose!) and features the incredible Ray Wise as “The Man.” Plus director Kyle Rankin is an absolute blast to work with. I got to do some fx stuff I hadn’t done before, and also got to do exactly the kind of creative effects work I think I do best, including this quick-and-dirty “big moment” in the film. (And yes, the flying darts too. Of course.)

Thanks to Gray Haddock and Sean Cunningham for their help on some of the Nuclear Family shots.

Shot in one of Dell’s internal server suites, BW Films latest production for Dell features stylish jib moves from DP Vance Holmes and crew. Director Zane Rutledge follows up two recent Telly Awards with another visually stunning sequence for Dell.com.

This time our hapless stickman office worker needs to finish his project in record time, and Dell’s new Reliable Memory Technology makes him and his Precision Workstation the hero once again.

Although only seven seconds long, the hero shot we were involved in was a critical third-act moment of the film, featuring one of Louisiana’s “endless bridges” to the horizon. Unfortunately the shot had to be filmed on the end of a secondary bridge and thus everything beyond the scene of the accident had to be replaced digitally. This was further complicated by the handheld, point-of-view nature of the shot.

These shots were originally being shopped to A-list effects houses on the west coast. But the Duplass brothers wanted me to have the shot, and Jay pushed for them to let me do a test. The post production supervisor on the film said this about even the first test footage for this shot: “I am absolutely beside myself. You KILLED this.” (As well as a few other things unsuitable for print. In a good way.)

The Duplass brothers were totally pleased with the final bridge shot, though far less surprised to see A-list effects from our indie outfit, as they pushed for my involvement after working with me on the “truck hit shot” in the third act of their indie hit Baghead, years before. On the commentary track of Baghead they were kind enough to remark, “Zane Rutledge, you rock!” (And that little comment has actually led to some other word-of-mouth FX work, by the way.)

All of the shots we did for JWLAH were fairly subtle — and if we did our job correctly, you’ll never know they were effects shots at all. But even seven seconds can have an impact.

Thanks to Gray Haddock for his part on a number of shots involving co-stars Susan Sarandon and Rae Dawn Chong. And big thanks to Jay and Mark for pushing for my involvement in this great film.

We designed and animated (and helped a bit with scripts/comedy as well) ten 3-4 minutes episodes for use as a training aid, including almost a dozen quirky and diverse yet repurposable characters, with a streamlined scalable pipeline for phonetic lipsync and animation. It was a fun project, and another return to my early love of character design and traditional animation.

Update: this series recently won a Telly Award! Congrats to the whole BW Films crew!

I recently directed a series of spots for the new refresh of the latest Dell Precision workstations. Featuring a redesigned chassis and a cool front bezel design for optimal airflow, these spots feature some of Dell’s brightest (including Design guru Ken Musgrave) discussing their passion for the Precision line and the new design

We shot these spots in Dell’s acoustic lab’s “anachoic chamber,” a huge and very cool room dedicated to audio engineering and precision recording. I feel like I balanced my “sound guy karma” for all the times I’ve tortured the sound guy with planes, AC units, traffic, etc.

Kudos to the whole team at BW Films for the flawless production, and to DP Vance Holmes and editor Jeff Stolhand in particular. Click here to see the T3600-T5600 workstation video.

I recently directed a series of spots for the new refresh of the latest Dell Precision workstations. Featuring a redesigned chassis and a cool front bezel design for optimal airflow, these spots feature some of Dell’s brightest (including Design guru Ken Musgrave) discussing their passion for the Precision line and the new design.

We shot these spots in Dell’s acoustic lab’s “anachoic chamber,” a huge and very cool room dedicated to audio engineering and precision recording. I feel like I balanced my “sound guy karma” for all the times I’ve tortured the sound guy with planes, AC units, traffic, etc.

Kudos to the whole team at BW Films for the flawless production, and to DP Vance Holmes and editor Jeff Stolhand in particular. Click here to see the high-powered T7600 workstation video.

Written by R. Zane Rutledge/Jeff Stolhand. Directed and animated by R. Zane Rutledge. Voiceover by Rolf Saxon. Produced by BW Films.