Fuji: Behind the scenes

The commercial for Fuji Videotape is an example of the collaborative effort that goes into a 30 second animated spot. (It's been a few years, so if I don't mention everyone I hope they'll let me know and I will make the necessary corrections.) First off there were Marilyn Zoranado and Barry Bruce as Producer and Director respectively. J.D. Alley drew the storyboards. Individual characters were designed by Chuck Duke, Ray Nelson, Webster Colcord, Jeff Mulcaster, and Doug Williams. They also animated. Charlie Rehwalt was in charge of stage setup. Lighting was also Charlie Rehwalt and Doug Kelly. And if I remember right, George Hood was the editor. Set Design was by Doug Kelly and J.R. Williams.

Some of the details are blurred by time. And the fact that commercial schedules are only 6-10 weeks long and you are working like mad to finish by the deadline. Yeah,...I know, if you haven't worked in commercial t.v. production this seems like a great deal of time. Like a whole school semester. Well, it sometimes is barely enough time to reach your deadline.

The premise of the spot was the Fuji pitchman is standing behind a tabletop explaining the qualities of their new videotape. As he does this, various characters morph from the tapes, interrupting him. He finally has to yell over the noise to make his point. Each of these characters was animated on a separate set, and composited in post production.

Chuck Duke was the primary pitchman animator. Doug Williams animated the Jazzercizing frogs. Ray Nelson was responsible for the high diving hippo. Jeff Mulcaster animated the Tap Dancers. I think it was Si Tran and Ray Nelson who animated the explosion effect. And Webster Colcord did the final Frog zapping the bug shot. (Or maybe it was Doug Williams. Sorry if I get this wrong guys)

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