[CGnews]

yU + co recently produced a bright, upbeat spot for Canada’s The Movie Network promoting its current line-up of movie offerings and series. Set to Katrina and the Waves’ irrepressible anthem Walking on Sunshine , the spot serves up a spirited montage of clips from such titles as The Longest Yard, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Stealth and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo—and uses a shower of animated flower petals to tie them into the theme of spring.

The montage segments of the spot were put together with a sense of cleverness and wit, with clips that not only represent the various films but also play off one another in funny ways. Graphic elements are integrated throughout the piece and primarily take the form of multi-colored, stylized flower petals that blow through the spot as if carried along by a gust of spring wind.

The lightheartedness of the promo is meant to reflect the character of the movies, which are primarily comedies, and the mood of viewers, according to yU + co producer Lane Jensen. “Spring is a time when most Canadians are feeling good,� she said. “After the long winter, they are heading out doors to enjoy the sunshine.�

yU + co animators found creative ways to make the petals interact with the clips. They form a cloud around a spinning football held by Adam Sandler and fall like oversized snowflakes around a young James Garner in a clip from The Great Escape.

The flower petals are also used to seamlessly segue from the movie clips to graphical segments that introduce the logos of the Movie Network and its brands, Excess, Fun, Fest and Pix. “We wanted it to seem as if everything that is happening is happening within a movie,� said yU + co art director Martin Surya. “Even the graphics of the movie titles are playfully integrated into the environments. They come together and then scatter like the leaves, as if they too were being blown by the wind.�

The spring movie promo is one of a series of assignments that yU + co has undertaken for Astral Media’s The Movie Network. The design and production studio earlier produced a branding spot for the network in which movie clips break apart into bits of flying typography that form words suggesting the emotions experienced by movie-goers.

Credits for yU + co go to Garson Yu, Creative Director; Carol Wong, Executive Producer; Lane Jensen, Senior Producer; Teresa Vilaseca, Associate Producer; Martin Surya, Art Director; Etsuko Uji, Designer; Kamal Hatami and Brad Mace 3D Artists; Alex Yoon, 2D Animator; and Ryan Miller, Editor.

yU + co is located at 941 N. Mansfield Ave., Hollywood, CA 90038. For more information, call (323) 606-5050.