Chris Kawagiwa | storyboards

Hard Rock Cafe - "Our Other Rock Stars"

2012-02-23T14:00:00.000-08:00

Commercial for "Hard Rock Cafe":

Working under director Henry Hobson was great, especially since I'm a fan of his work on movie titles. I've admired quite a few featured on Art of the Title. Some of the coolest treats come out of sticking around for the credits to "Rango" and also the sequence for "Sherlock Holmes".

Not to mention the great and eerie "Walking Dead" intro too.

For this spot, it starts off all mysterious slightly dark until it takes a turn to make the viewer...hungry. I think we did have some good burgers for lunch working on this project.
Stayed pretty analog for this one-- ketched in pencil and Copic Marker Neutral gray makers:

[Client:Hard Rock Cafe, Agency: Duncan/Channon, Production: Recommended Media]

MLB2K12 - "Finger Mechanics" and "Verlander on Verlander"

2012-02-21T01:13:00.000-08:00

Recent promo commercials for MLB2K12 from 2K Sports.

There were a few of spots in this series showing what it takes to play a perfect game and make it into the "Perfect Club". Cy Young Award winner and MVP Justin Verlander takes center stage in most of these, with appearances by players CJ Wilson, Jay Bruce, and David Price.
Jeremy Konner directed (of "Drunk History" awesomeness) and gave great notes to knock these all out fast.

This first one features Kate Upton-- recently featuring on some magazine called Sports Illustrated Swimsuit's cover...
I think my rushed drawings of her are likely to be met with disapproval by the throngs of her oggling fans, but quite a fun one to board out though~ Will post more when the longer "Perfect Club" spot featuring disguises and panthers airs.

"Verlander vs Verlander"

This one was pretty much all Verlander and his facial acting than storyboards, but still fun to try and catch a likeness in a sketch.

2012-01-15T01:33:00.000-08:00

The posts have been far in between-- but recent and current projects still awaiting final release:

• Garnier (Partizan)

• American Greetings Valentines e-card (feat. The Artist acting dog "Uggie")

• MLB2k12 (feat. Justin Verlander, Kate Upton)

• Spling

• Ceasar Canine Cuisine (Dir. Kinga Burza)

• Feature teaser/trailer feat. Michael Ironside

• Hard Rock Cafe (Dir. Henry Hobson)

[updates arriving soon!]

SuperHeavy - "Miracle Worker"

2011-09-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

[Today is the release date for the debut album--! See superheavy.com and order it thru Amazon.]

A true a meeting of legends and musicians at the top of their game-- my geeky self would compare it with something like the Avengers Assembling or the Justice League team-up of musical talent.

The supergroup that composes SuperHeavy are Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, A.R. Rahman, and Damian Marley. It was the most diverse and talented pooling of folks I had ever heard of and a real pleasure to be a involved in this first release single.

I met with the director Paul Boyd and Dave A. Stewart of Eurythmics fame and worked out of his offices to knock these boards out in a big hurry. Again, more comics related references-- but I had heard of Dave's work in comics (not the also talented colorist 'Dave Stewart') but as scribe for the quirky black comedy graphic novel, "Zombie Broadway". I still have to check out his other her dip into comics with "Walk-In" which I was recommended. I gave him one of my 'Sunless Circus' comics I tend to have on hand.

Perks to working on-site--
Dave Stewart strumming live awesomeness

The SuperHeavy logo was a design by Shepard Fairey and that indeed was a real tattoo of it that Dave was getting in the vid. Now that's dedication to the project~ Here I was complaining about getting non-toxic marker ink all over my hands at the art desk...

Since the video required a crowd on set, a pal and I got treated to a free concert as extras and met a couple of the legendary performers. The violinist Ann Marie Calhoun was also amazing to hear perform live.

I also got a copy of my hastily drawn storyboards signed by Sir Mick and Ms. Stone, which was quite fantastic.

If you do a search for it on eBay...... you won't find it~

All the talent and crew were a fine class of people and great to work with.

[Drawing Process]

Though I usually use digital color/toning, this one was rushed through (totaling 100+ frames of drawings in about two days) so I opted for my quick-and-speedy COPIC marker rendering. You can kind of see where I ran out of cool grays to switch to a warm tone in some of them. I've found this much faster and a better indicator of how to improve more confident linework. I personally like using the chisel tip Sketch markers that can handle both details and wide shadow areas. Especially for on-set sketching, I should really have a set of gray values handy for storyboarding on the fly.

The director was stellar and seemed happy with probably some of my most rushed drawings. It was a treat to see what parts of the sketches made the final cut. See here--

[Storyboards and screenshot comparison] :

[Screen captures from Superheavy.com

Music video by SuperHeavy performing

Miracle Worker. (C) 2011 SuperHeavy LLC,
under exclusive licence to Universal International Music B.V.]Amazon

American Greetings/ Prius - "Nature's Harmony"

2011-08-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

This e-card was part of American Greetings' Summer of Harmony e-cards for the Toyota Prius. I didn't know this was up until I recently found it through the director, Chad Koch's site.I thought the hummingbird and the deer stumbling away was a nice touch--

This was a little while ago, but I remember listening to these SFX tracks over and over to catch the different animals. I still hear birds whenever a Prius honks.

In hindsight, I'm not sure what sound that tortoise would have made....

though possibly "Kow-a-bunga"

See the card HERE.

"The Tortoise goes..."

[Screen captures from AmericanGreetings.com]

"Drop In to Win" - Wienerschnitzel Promotion

2011-08-15T02:52:00.000-07:00

This project for Wienerschnitzel through Adville USA was less storyboard heavy but required a process of sequential storytelling nonetheless. It features the vintage character of "Wienerman" as a throwback to the old mascot and the restaurant's 50th anniversary. Winning game pieces win one of fifty FIAT 500s.

Some of the ads are airing now on TV accompanied by that "Little Bitty Pretty One" song-- which after syncing animation to after hours on end, is thoroughly cemented in my head now~

Try your luck yourself at wienercash.com for a limited time--

Character turnaround and key mouth phonemes
(like "Eh", "Ah", "Oh", "M", "Oo", "Fffffff...")

That code was a dud.. !

Initial game board design sketch

Much like the Pinko game from the 'Price is Right'

Color mock-up sketch

Some genius programmers worked out the physics of that dropping token--!

Post Updates

2011-07-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

This post is a place-holder for recent projects that are in production, still under NDA contract, or I've yet to collect, collate and post board for. Stay tuned for updates--!

• TaxSlayer.com

• Wienerschnitzel (Wienercash.com promo animation)

• Taylor Swift e-card (AG.com)

• EstrellaTV commercial

• FSU graduate film project

• Super Heavy music video

• Pfizer commercial

"White Apple" - Independent Short Drama

2011-04-25T03:46:00.000-07:00

This project was for a local filmmaker duo, the Brothers Pham. This short film follows the story of two brothers, one of whom is involved in an apocalyptic cult with very dark leanings. The mood and tone in the scenes I boarded were very thought out and well presented while working with the director. These specific boards shown had greytones added to define some characters and also selected to leave out some revelatory moments.
I think the casting choice was very fitting based on the characters I read and what I've seen so far-- It's great to see shrewd solutions worked on independent works like this with smart use of staging and lighting.
See the trailer embedded at bottom and see some more behind the scenes at their Facebook Page.

Writer/Director: Naman Pham

Producer: Namson Pham

[Storyboards and screenshots.]

Dex Knows - "Local Rhythms" Commercial

2011-04-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

//*This blog's update schedule had fallen a bit behind--There'll be several posts that will catch up on a few of the projects that I have been working on*//

Dex One Corporation provides print, online and mobile search marketing via their DexKnows.com website, print yellow pages directories. I wasn't familiar with the name until I realized they own the Yellow Pages here in CA. I noticed the DEX print material for the first time during a recent trip to Vegas--

Check out the extended version of the spot here: "Local Rhythms"

The commercial has a YouTube "Making of" video (embedded on bottom) that was fun to see since since I wasn't around for the actual filming. The setup for such a large cast looked like a huge challenge even in the early development stages.

T.K. Broderick did a stellar job weaving the sounds into the rhythmic beat that builds into the climax. After listening to the track several times over to work out the timing, I started to hear percussion in waking life everywhere too.

Director: Ace Norton

[Storyboard and screenshot comparisons:]

You can see a couple seconds of the storyboards in action in here!

"Winerschnitzel" - Cash in on a Corndog Promotion

2011-03-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

I once again worked on Wienerschnitzel's "Cash in on a Corn Dog" promo campaign through Adville USA. This year's had a more classic/vintage flavor compared to last years animated rapper. You can see some ads for it on TV in select areas (seen at least in parts of So. California~)

You can see the site up at Wienercash.com hosting the promotion. The walk cycle took a bit of doing to animate-- you can check it out by entering the sweepstakes info even if you don't have a promo code yet. There, you can also see the "Win-o-matic" machine in action-- the fun vintage refridgerator/vending machine/x-ray inspired contraption!

The contest and site will be up until May 29.
Find out some well aggregated info about the promo at this sweepstakeslovers.com page if you want to play the corndog odds!

Jamey Johnson - "Playing the Part" Music Video

2010-11-24T04:36:00.000-08:00

Music video for country music star Jamey Johnson's single, "Playing the Part" directed by Matthew McConaughey.

In tune with the lyrics, the shoot spanned most of the postcard LA locations, from Hollywood Blvd. to Venice Beach and the Powerhouse Bar. Check out some behind the scenes footage on Jamey's YouTube channel here.

In order to avoid the fans/ladies that would sure to bottleneck the production on set, Matthew employed the clever use of disguises while while wearing the director's hat. I was around to see some filming firsthand for the Santa Monica shoot but not around when he has some cool Batman thing going on the day before. E!Online seemed to catch some scenes there.

This project offered some interesting challenges to work out timing with the music. It was also a surprise to work with the actor who commanded some real directing chops. There was a pretty wide cast of characters and neat to see them fill their roles. Great fun and a pleasure to be a part--!

Check out the finished product, or scroll to bottom for extra pics and the video embedded.

[Screenshot and storyboard comparison :]

[And other set pics:]

Hazardous ape crossing

Monkey and me

Venice street performer and Matthew in disguise

Two gorillas suited up at the ready

The Muscle Beach strongman/ bouncer

Aah, whatta swell guy!

Dark Ride Voyage E-card

2010-10-21T04:27:00.000-07:00

The Halloween season is in full swing and the cards that I worked on in the warm summer months have finally been released! Check out this classic e-card featuring all the fun tropes of the classic "dark ride" or "ghost train" here-- it'll be featured on the AmericanGreetings.com landing page along with the new cards for this time of year. It's a short one, but in a theme I really dig: the old time fair/ circus [in case you can't tell from my acrobatic robot comic~]. I was responsible for storyboard duties only on this one.

If you want more more spooky-time e-card fun, hop on over to my illustration blog too to see a process post--

Medal of Honor: Linkin Park "The Catalyst"

2010-08-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

These boards are for the new Medal of Honor game coming out in October by EA. Sounds like an anticipated release since apparently the vid was the most watched on YouTube for the 1st of August :] A departure from M.o.H.'s long running WWII settings, the story follows a "Tier 1" Operator in Afghanistan as he preps for an op.
It flashes between live-action of him prepping his weapons/gear and in-game shots of these items in combat use, intercut with a flashback. I read up on some interesting insights about elite military units and equipment while finding reference-- fascinating stuff. I also read up on beards-- awesome.

EA partnered up with Linkin Park's Joe Hahn, who directed, and features their single "The Catalyst," from their album, A Thousand Suns. This project with Ghost Town Media was as fast as the action in it... wish I could have stuck around for the filming but schedules conflicted. Hopefully I'll ship out to the next shoot this cool--

[Screenshots and Storyboard comparison + embed vid. at bottom]

Adidas Originals MEGA Diner

2010-08-03T15:51:00.000-07:00

This ad was part of the Adidas MEGA campaign working with director Ace Norton. There were quite a few ideas we worked in the boards, but as it often happens it passes in the blink of an eye in the finished commercial.

The interactive web component they made is a lot of fun too-- a sort of "choose-your-own-adventure" type with a waitress to take your order. Some of the elements that didn't make it into the commercial can be seen in it. Check it out here!

The spot also features rapper B.o.B. as the chef to the tune of his song "Magic" (a recent collaboration with Rivers Cuomo from his album "The Adventures of Bobby Ray"). My inner geek has really been enjoying the recent list of artists teaming up with Adidas like Daft Punk and Snoop Dogg's Star Wars Cantina spots. The main patron might be familiar-- Paul Iacono from the MTVs "The Hard Times of RJ Berger" (though I didn't know it'd be him the while working the boards~)

[Storyboards and screenshot comparison + embed. vid at bottom]

Juanes - "Yerbatero" Music Video

2010-07-26T04:06:00.000-07:00

These storyboards were for the Columbian star Juanes and the title song for his new album "Yerbaterro". The single's debut performance was during the FIFA World Cup Kick-off concert opening ceremonies. This was a fast project with Ghost Town Media and director Brandon Parvini who had the shots elaborately timed to the music-- even down to fractions of seconds!

I was shown some really interesting reference material for the bio-luminescent plants that would populate the video and watched a bit of Avatar to get the environment into my head. It was interesting to see more animated plants used similar to another flowery project I did with American Greetings, but with such dynamic tones.

[Check out the full vid here or the embed at bottom]

The end result was full of awesome VFX eye candy-- here are some more colorful screenshot comparisons to the B+W boards:

Krazy Glue Commercial

2010-05-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

[EDIT: There's now a Behind the Scenes video posted on the site that includes some of these boards used on the set!]

Krazy Glue T.V. and web spot through Subliminal Pictures with director Kevin Ward. During production I was pretty amazed to find out how many different stress tests were actually performed to gauge the product's true effectiveness. I always love the obligatory "..Do Not Attempt" warnings even on the craziest of shenanigans--

Check out the commercial on the Krazy Glue site here.

"Coke Zero Heroes" commercial

2010-04-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

This was a project I was a part of a while ago but recently found it online. Working again with director Ace Norton this commercial had some complicated shots to map out using these sort of inter-dimensional screens-- jumping from one location and orientation to the next. Real fun Michel Gonrdy-esque ideas in it. There was some brain-squeezing trying to figure out backdrops that complimented what was shown on the 'screens' with quite a lot of interesting talents to choose from.

My hat's off to some of my own favorites, whose clips didn't make the cut, but still heroic in my book:

The Long-running metal band Anvil

The Human-Spiderman

The Kid-who-Could-Solve-Several-Rubik's-Cubes-while-Playing-Guitar-Hero

The full spot can be seen through Partizan's Labs section here.

"Intent" Feature

2010-04-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

These boards were previously posted as "Un-named Feature" under confidentiality agreements. Recently got permission to post these along with sneak peak screenshots from this thriller starring Eric Roberts ("Salvatore Maroni" from the Dark Knight).

See more on their site at intentmovie.com

Birthday Nuts E-card

2010-04-09T04:31:00.001-07:00

A nutty birthday e-card for American Greetings featuring western themed squirrels.

Animated and brought to life by the talented Heather Dunn, I was responsible for creating the background assets and props. Check out the card here!

Wienerschnitzel C-Dogg Animation

2010-03-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is for a sweepstakes promo I animated as well as storyboarded thru Adville USA for Wienerschnitzel corn dogs.
The promo (www.wienercash.com) uses a code you enter, with optional directions for the game to go so color coding the boards for clarity came into play.
To see character sketches and read more about this project, see my regular illustration blog post too.

Easter Lily E-card

2010-02-19T00:39:00.001-08:00

EDIT: added screenshot comparison and a link to the animated card for the Easter season.

Color boards for American Greetings. It was an interesting challenge using camera moves to make a flower blooming more dynamic. I was a bit inspired by a very simple yet entertaining game out there called just that: "Flower" by That Game Company...really their names!

See a bit of the game here.

Wishing Star E-card

2009-12-17T00:23:00.000-08:00

A social network enabled e-card for AmericanGreetings.com, this little owl can be sent via Facebook and Twitter along with a message. Though a pretty short sequence, I had a chance to imagine some cinematic CG fun following the shooting star's wake. See and send the card in its entirety here.

Screenshots:

"I'm too Festive" song parody E-card

2009-12-16T00:52:00.000-08:00

A holiday song parody e-card for American Greetings set to the tune of the "I'm too Sexy" song. Heavily candy-coated in holiday cornball batter and wrapped in a bad sweater... see the e-card here!

Storyboard and screenshot comparisons:

"Cake Makin' with Baker Bob" birthday e-card

2009-10-30T03:06:00.000-07:00

A live action personalized e-card for American Greetings. Add a recipient's name and have it spelled out at the end in cake frosting!

Oftentimes I try to over-exaggerate expressions and actions to suggest gestural movement. Usually they don't translate very literally into live actors, but this one had the same energy and Benny Hill-like humor I imagined while sketching it out-- was great fun, and kudos to the baker willing to be made such a mess and lit on fire~!
See the full e-card here.

Screenshots and comparisons:

"Got a Spooky Feelin" Halloween E-card

2009-10-11T05:39:00.000-07:00

An animated short for American Greetings. I listened to that zany "Hooked on a Feeling" music video with David Hasselhoff quite a few times to get the pacing right for this parody to the Blue Suede song~!
I liked how it turned out with animation and great little visual gags by Chris Kennett who worked off my storyboards.
Check out the rest of it here !

Screenshots and comparisons:

"Molly Goes West" USC graduate thesis film

2009-08-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

"Molly Goes West" a historical drama about a young couple's struggles during the 1850's migration and settlement of the American West. Director Reed Simonsen was great to work with and made the process of storyboarding this film out a pleasure. The stars in these scenes are played by Christina Kurzius as Molly and Bobby Trey as Jonathan. I'm very curious to see how the wolf attack scenes (with 'Rugby' the dog auteur~) will play out.

Storyboard and on-set photo comparisons:

Yoplait "Go-gurt" Commercial

2009-07-29T03:07:00.000-07:00

Another project with Partizan and director Ace Norton featuring lovable little prairie dogs. Check out the ~~video on YouTube~~ ~~here~~ ~~or see it embedded at the bottom~~ of this post. People seem to really dig the music too-- catchy!

Storyboard and screenshot comparisons:

The Fray - "Never Say Never" music video

2009-04-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

This was a project I worked on in March. The video finally went up on Myspace and YouTube today--

The scenario for the video was something like a few minutes before the end of the world. It was shot on the "War of the Worlds" set on the Universal lot-- right next to the "Psycho" house! Scenes like a crashed jetliner and blown out homes provided plenty of great apocalyptic ambiance.
Though originally supposed to be a day shoot, it got shifted to a (cold and dark) night shoot. I had a lot of fun on this since I was also a background extra and got to meet Issac and the band.
Swell folks, all of 'em!

There was a lot of careful timing that needed to be arranged, so many points stayed pretty close to the boards and animatics. Director Ace Norton arranged all the chaos with great detail~

Storyboards and screenshot comparisons:

There was a lot of downtime in between having water dunked on us and the explosions~
On-set photos and sketches:

Never Say Never

[Screen captures from MySpace.com]

Save water !

2009-03-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

Boards for two info spots for a Florida water management district through Subliminal Pictures.
Water conservation makes me thirsty...
The final cut for the two "Grass Pool" and "Pop-ups" were pretty close to the boards, check them out at Floridaswater.com

Singing animals

2009-02-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

Theme of the week/month: Singing animals

These were for a an e-card for American Greetings featuring a band of pets that are putting on a show.

They needed different music theme variations for the same story. These templates from Karen J Lloyd's storyboard blog helped out a bunch, keeping me from having to draw out at full scale what can be told simply.

The red was all western, green for disco, and blue for a rockband.
Yeehaw, groovy, and rockin' out~

This one for a lounge singing e-card.

American Greetings live-action shorts

2009-01-23T16:38:00.000-08:00

Boards for a music ecard where an olde farmer reminisce about times past. Well gosh darnit if that ain't sweet

Shorts for American Greetings

2008-12-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

The folks at Kiwee.com have recently been working on live action content for American Greetings.com . Check it out HERE.
I've been doing storyboards for these short films that act as video e-cards for the holidays. I got to be one of the extras in the Christmas one.
Boards and fun on-set photos.

Knuckle Draggers prop

2008-10-09T01:05:00.001-07:00

A "prop" used for a very quick insert shot of a character looking at storyboards in Knuckle Draggers. The film's script called for boards to be used in a Vans ad, so I came up with a mock comic-style sequence involving shoes. The unwritten story I was using to draw these was that she stole these amazing superhuman shoes from the guy...

I also worked on the opening titles with director Alex Raniravelo-- which went through many variations and tests to create an understandable arrangement of cave drawings.
[A poster concept]

"Community Coffee" commercial

2008-09-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Spot for New Orleans' Community Coffee with Subliminal Commercial Productions

"Knuckle Draggers" feature

2008-08-06T16:21:00.001-07:00

This is one of several illustrations for the opening sequence of the upcoming film "Knuckle Draggers", which contrary to these drawings, is not about cavemen... but rather an interesting take about modern relationships and how we haven't 'evolved' over time.
Starring Ross McCall, Paul J. Alessi, Amie Barsky, Omar Gooding.

[Classic storyboard idea scrapped in favor of a more of a cave wall look]

"Hacking Hollywood"

2008-06-03T15:51:00.000-07:00

"VW" and "Snickers" spots

2008-04-30T15:44:00.001-07:00

(script c/o Nick Gassaway)

"Twisted Metal" viral commercial (Playstation)

2008-04-19T17:30:00.000-07:00

(boards and set photos!)

[Thanks to Barry Barona, Pia Clemente, Rob Farben]

"Encore" short film (Nicholas Nides)

2008-04-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

(hmm.... lot of clowns lately :o)

Storyboards for a USC grad student's short film, "Encore", features the last poetic performance of an old clown.

(unnamed feature)

2008-03-12T22:51:00.001-07:00

(...ooo, creepy)

Featured Storyboards... now with the miracle of sound!

2008-01-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

Untitled independent project

2008-01-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

[script c/o Austin Kelley]

"Gimme Some Piece" feature project

2007-12-27T01:13:00.000-08:00

[c/o Barry Barona]

"Connected" spec TV project (Jeff K)

2007-12-20T19:55:00.002-08:00

(thanks to Jeff Kanjanapangka)

"Car chase sequence" promo

2007-12-12T03:01:00.000-08:00

I originally drew this car waiting for a friend, bored in a parking garage. This is what it turned into after adding a touch of cinematic adrenaline.

"Toothpaste Champion" promo

2007-12-09T01:39:00.000-08:00

(brush your teeth!!)

"Simple Fax" promo

2007-11-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

(yes, mind boggling...)

"Play the Game" spec commercial (New Alliance Pictures)

2007-11-09T23:51:00.000-08:00

"The Hard Ride" feature (Talmarc Produtions)

2007-11-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

"Win, Lose or Draw" CSULB project

2007-11-01T00:05:00.000-07:00