"Bags 2 Riches" for Price Chopper features CGI shopping cart and piles of prizes

Price Chopper wanted to pull out all the stops to promote its "Bags 2 Riches" sweepstakes. To do so, we helped them create a shopping cart character that guides the viewer past the cars, piles of cash, and mountains of groceries that participants can win. We pulled together the previz and the editorial from the client's sketches and created the journey that culminates in a canyon made of grocery items. A last minute script change added the dancing prize tickets to an already action-packed spot.

Many, many groceries and other prizes had to be modeled. The Galaxy 61 modeling  team included Roger An  and Jasper Johnson (who built  some rather tasty looking donuts and bagels). Roger also rigged the shopping cart, enabling the bags of groceries to tumble and sway as the cart speeds along.

Galaxy 61 created the title sequence for VH1's "The Fabulous Life"

It's the featured lead story on Fired By Design's home page this week.

We're celebrating Galaxy 61's 10th anniversary this month:

Here's what Creative Planet had to say

The new Galaxy 61 Show Reel:

Disney XD "Phineas and Ferb" Flex IDs

Disney XD "Glass Bottom Boat" FlexID.

Disney XD "Kites" FlexID.

Disney XD "Treasure Hunt" FlexID .

Disney XD "Shadow Puppets" FlexID .

Our friends at Loyal Kaspar tapped us once again to create Flex IDs for the Disney XD channel. The theme of these four IDs is summer vacation, and they feature 2D characters from the show "Phineas and Ferb". The interesting challenge was that all the 2D character animation was pulled from existing show footage, so we had to come up with storylines and environments to work with the retrofitted characters. We also devised shading techniques to integrate the 2D clips into the 3D lighting. The technique is particularly effective in the "Shadow Puppets" ID. We also got to flex our visual effects chops, with sand, cloth simulations, explosions, bubbles, blowing leaves, and more.

Galaxy 61 Crew:

Fola Akinola- modeling and effects animation

Amy Hay- Modeling and effects animation

Doug Johnson, previz, animation, lighting, and compositing

Disney XD "Hockey" Flex ID

This was the first Disney XD Flex ID we produced for Loyal Kaspar. Director David Herbruck is an avid hockey player, so he had very specific ideas about the look and action. We also had to tell a story in 10 seconds using only skates, sticks, and a puck. One of the innovative ways around this was the under-the-ice shots, looking up at the blurry shadows of the players as they fight for control of the puck. We're proud of how good this piece looks- one of the most photo-real we have done.

Galaxy 61 Crew:

Kyle Anderson: Modeling, texturing, effects animation.

Doug Johnson: Previz, animation, lighting, compositing.

Miguel Zavala: Modeling

Insight Communications

Insight "New Fashioned"

Insight "Mailman"

Insight "Graduation"

A true collaboration between Galaxy 61 and Loyal Kaspar, we pitched and concepted the campaign for Insight, a Kentucky-based cable TV provider. We then produced 5 of the 10 30-second 100 % CG spots in just over 4 months. All of the spots feature various objects and environments constructed entirely of constantly changing bundles of fiber optic cables.

We wrote custom software to generate the cables, extrude them along curves and animate them. As each spot was effectively one continuous camera move from the intro to the Insight logo conclusion, we often had to devise hidden transitions to move seamlessly from one vignette to the next. Here are some of the style frames we designed to pitch the project and define the look and feel of the cables:

Demonstrating how our scalable approach to production allows us to take on larger projects, we had a full house for the Insight spots:

Seon Crawford: Modeling and animation.

Akira Thompson: Previz, modeling, and animation.

Bobby Roe: Software development, animation.

Eugen Sasu: Software development, animation.

Roger An: Modeling.

Doug Johnson: Previz, animation, lighting, compositing, director.

Galaxy 61 2010 Animation Show Reel

This is our new show reel for 2010. We have done a lot of cool work over the last two years- broadcast design, commercials, music videos, and original content. For a full breakdown of the work and clients represented, see the list on our website at www.galaxy61.com.

As for that introduction, I had an idea based on the General Motors "Motorama" Exhibits from the 50's and early 60's, a traveling auto show where new GM models and concept cars were introduced. I had interns Jaime Ekkens and Yang Lee build the Motorama environment, complete with a model of a vintage Ford Galaxy. My good friend Allen Enlow provided the voice over in earnest mid-century style, and the soundtrack came from "Music for Biscuits", a selection of lost advertising and rare film sounds by the Mike Sammes singers. I then treated the piece to look and sound like it has been sitting in a basement for 50 years. Visual Effects circa 1961!