Type Goes Wild in the AICP Show Opener

Manhattan studio Thornberg & Forester was selected to create a package for the 2008 Association of Independent Commercial Producers Show, The Art & Technique of the American Commerical, which debuted this summer at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Creative directors Scott Matz and Justin Meredith took their inspiration from visits to the museum that revealed interesting juxtapositions of typography and architectural space. The 60-second show opener, created in collaboration with Moxie Pictures CEO and Partner Robert Fernandez and AICP President and CEO Matt Miller, is a virtual journey through the museum’s spaces as the letters affixed to the walls come to life. The camera finally settles on a reveal of the AICP logo. We asked Executive Producer Elizabeth Kiehner – with Matz and Meredith, she’s the third partner in T&F – for a quick backgrounder on creating the piece. Watch the video, then read her comments, below.

This frame is an establishing shot. Nothing is really happening. We want to trick the viewer into thinking that the camera is just finding random standard typography throughout the museum. We wanted to give the viewer certain expectations, then turn the spot upside down. This particular shot was all created in After Effects. We were pretty happy to pull it off in 2D.

Everything gets turned upside down. This is a macro moment where the first piece of type is peeling off the wall. From here on out we are using Maya [for 3D] and compositing in After Effects.

All of the letters and type are peeling off the wall. Linas Jodwalis, our 3D lead on this project, remodeled the entire Helvetica Neue Medium typeface so that the extrusions would look perfect.

Chaos. We all love this dramatic frame right before the impact into the opposing wall.

Impact. The letters are crashing into the wall to spell out “the art and technique.”

The AICP reveal. (We stuck a couple of god rays in there.)

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Creative Directors: Scott Matz, Justin Meredith
Executive Producer: Elizabeth Kiehner
Producer: Kimberly Abels
3D Lead and Technical Director: Linas Jodwalis

Music/sound design: Michael Montes, Sacred Noise, NYC