Award-Winning Studio's Latest Project For General Mills Amps Up The Energy And The Creativity

CHICAGO, IL - Apparently the moon is made of Lucky Charms cereal pieces - at least it is in the fantasy world found in "Paper Moon" -- the new CG animated ad brought to life by Calabash Animation ( www.calabashanimation.com) for General Mills. The spot was created by agency Saatchi & Saatchi, New York.

"With each new Lucky Charms spot we try to build on the last one, not only story-wise but technically as well," Sean Henry, Calabash Animation's Executive Producer explains. "We always want to push it creatively and come up new ways of exploring the Lucky Charms world. For "Paper Moon", we really pushed the camera movement because we wanted to keep the energy and pace high. There are few static shots. The spot is alive and dynamic throughout."

"Paper Moon" is set amid an ancient astrological ruin -- complete with Stonehenge type slabs of rock, and marble surface revealing detailed inscriptions of Lucky Charms cereal pieces. It is there we find Lucky the Leprechaun summoning his rainbow powers to create the six new moon-shaped pieces now found in Lucky Charms.

Interrupted by those kids who are "always after his Lucky Charms," the chase is on -- until Lucky stumbles and accidentally focuses his book of magic on the moon, causing it to explode and rain cereal to the delight of the kids. The spot ends with Lucky surfing a rainbow and using the book to recapture the cereal and make his getaway.

"We had a huge challenge in making the moon blow up with all these cereal bits flying out everywhere," Wayne Brejcha, Calabash Creative Director says. "We used new software plug-ins to fragment the moon's sphere and send the pieces tumbling in every direction. The camera move was poetic and dizzying, and it works dramatically."

Brejcha adds, "We painstakingly choreographed the characters to fit this constantly moving perspective and made many revisions to get it working as smoothly as possible. From the character's perspective we wanted to push the performance of the kids and Lucky to a higher level."

About Calabash Animation:
Led by Creative Director Wayne Brejcha and Executive Producer Sean Henry, Calabash Animation, Inc. ( www.calabashanimation.com) is the Chicago, Il-based animation production studio, known for its award-winning cel, 3D and stopmotion animation for the advertising and entertainment industries. Calabash Animation is perhaps best known for their creative development of some of America's most beloved brand icons. In addition to working on some of today's top advertising the company has also produced several acclaimed short films. It's 2002 short 'Stubble Trouble' was nominated for an Academy Award in 2002.


Web Resources:
Click here to view the Lucky Charms "Paper Moon" spot:
http://calabashanimation.com/dlink.php?preview=91

Click here for more info about Calabash Animation:
http://www.calabashanimation.com

Creative Credits:
Client: General Mills/Lucky Charms
Project: "Paper Moon" (:30)

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, New York

Animation: Calabash Animation, Chicago, IL
Animation Director: Wayne Brejcha
Executive Producer: Sean Henry