Tucson Arizona’s Loft Cinema is a nonprofit movie house dedicated to creating community through film; “honoring the vision of filmmakers, celebrating ideas and promoting the appreciation and understanding of the art of film”.
They have been serving the Tucson community since 1972, screening new independent movies and documentaries along with classic art films, interactive events, sing-a-longs and cult favorites. They are tremendously generous supporters of the arts, and I sincerely love working with their entire staff.
I should probably also note that my appreciation for them is somewhat personal as well; I debuted my film Catnip: Egress to Oblivion? at their monthly “First Friday Shorts” competition and it was a completely exhilarating experience. Tucson is very lucky to have the Loft.
Below Left: Original poster art by Benjamin Mackey, vector design by Matt McCoy
Below Right and Bottom: Various Animated Render Stills
Loft Kids Fest 2016 – 3D Animated Promo
Every year the Loft puts on a fantastic (not to mention free!) multi-day Kids Film Festival, and for the second year in a row (click here to check out the 2015 model) I worked up an animated promotional video based on original poster art created by Mr. Benjamin Mackey (with vector design assistance by Matt McCoy).
Technical notes: the spot was created in Cinema 4D, Illustrator, After Effects, Final Cut Pro, and Photoshop
Below Left: Original poster art by Matt McCoy
Below Right and Bottom: Various Animated Render Stills
Loft Film Fest 2015 – Animated Promo
Here’s a spot created for in-house promotion of the Loft’s 2015 Film Fest. Every year these things seem to get better and better, and the lineup this time out is no exception.
Design-wise I based the 3D models and general look on original illustrations done by Matt McCoy, with a stylistic nod towards some of my favorite hand drawn 2D/ cell style animation promos seen at film festivals of the 1970’s.
Oh, and the song! It’s called “Buy One Get One Freebird” and comes courtesy of Portland, Oregon’s fabulous Audios Amigos. Thanks, guys!
Below Left: Original poster art by Benjamin Mackey, vector design by Matt McCoy
Below Right and Bottom: Various Render Stills
Loft Kids Fest 2015
Every year the Loft puts on a fantastic (not to mention free!) multi-day Kids Film Festival, and this year they asked me to work up a promo using art created by by Benjamin Mackey (with vector design assistance by Matt McCoy).
I loved the designs — not only did they seem perfect for the event, they also easily lent themselves to a quick narrative that kids would enjoy. After converting all of the characters into 3D objects within Cinema 4D, I went to work creating faux-cardboard versions of everything, and then placing them in more “real world” settings for animation.
Below: Miscellaneous Character Design, Scene Files and Renders
Loft Cinema – Snack Bar / Concessions Stand Ad
This in-house advertisement for the Loft Cinema’s Snack Bar was inspired by the hundreds of wonderful concession stand ads so common to the drive-in and movie houses from the 1940’s to the 1970’s. Those old food spots are always all over the place, so for this one I intentionally threw a real mishmash of styles into the mix (for the record, I used Photoshop, Illustrator, Cinema 4D and After Effects to cook it all up).
After being given a list of foods that the Loft wanted to call attention to, I first composed and sang the song (using Logic Pro X) and then set about creating the characters and scenarios that might best illustrate them. This actually all went pretty quickly — basing the tamale guys on the delicious Tucson Tamale Company offerings was a no-brainer, three members of the Loft staff graciously offered up their faces for the concession segment, and the wine folks practically created themselves.
Secretly of course, my dream is that this jingle eventually acquires a place in one of those future conversations along the lines of “Man, do you remember that weird song that they used to play at the Loft about vegan cookies? Seriously, what WAS that thing?”.
But I suppose I’ll have to let time tell this story.
Below Left: Original poster art by Matt McCoy
Below Right and Bottom: Various Render Stills
Loft Film Fest 2014 – Animated Promo
My first animated promo for the Loft, this was created in Cinema 4D (as well as Illustrator, After Effects, Final Cut, Photoshop) and based on the original poster art done by by Matt McCoy.
The ad ran in the three Loft theatres, and (with a slightly altered edit) was aired on television to promote the event.
CONTACT JASON WILLIS