Greezer, an animation and design studio located in Tel Aviv, is run by two master animators, Gidi Rabi and Udi Morag, who have been collaborating with Aniboom for over a year now. When I arrived at their studio to discuss their process in creating our History Channel Competition’s Call-For-Entries video, they suggested we instead talk about how they got to know with Aniboom. Thinking, “Okay then,” we dove into the love affair between Greezer Creative Creators (as Udi and Gidi call themselves) and Aniboom, which began in April 2008.
Gidi had just returned from India and Aniboom's COO (Chief Operations Officer for those of us unfamiliar with start-up vocabulary) called and asked to meet about a potential commissioned assignment. “Aniboom needed a trailer,” reflects Udi. “[They’d] been working on a video for the MIP conference in Cannes, France, for over three weeks and weren’t happy with the result.” Added Gidi, “They asked us if we can make a new video in less than 24 hours.”
Faced with creating a final cut in less than a day, “We bought a new computer screen and lots of coffee cups later the video was ready.” The magic makers continued, “We finished working at 8:45 and on 9:00, and the CD was already distributed after being approved.”
I asked them what the most interesting aspects are in making competition videos or movie trailers for a company like Aniboom. They said the biggest challenge in footage creation is constantly keeping in mind that they mustn’t outshine the animation they are to be promoting.
Since both Gidi and Udi have worked in the Television industry, it took them some time to adapt to the changes in shifting mediums – especially changes relating to the different screen size and time. “The audience is even more impatient than TV audience,” they say. One therefore has to be more careful with the messages of each video – there's no room for more than four words in one frame; the pace faster, everything is accelerated. You don’t have enough time to even say the word “Aniboom.” Look at Aniboom's logo for example – it is now only the letter A – no longer the company's name in its entirety. “One has to focus on the message and activate the users, especially when it comes to competitions,” the two say. “Unlike TV which encourages some kind of passivity [the lean forward/ lean backward story model], the Internet sends one focused message at a time. Web-video projects function like business cards with no room for longer stories. But the differences can also be seen on the level of structure, narrative conveyed visually or in some kind of impact we wish to make on the user.
“The History Channel Competition video brought another challenge since there were three brands that had to share the spotlight—The History Channel, The People Speak Competition, and Aniboom,” Gidi and Udi continued. “We had to ensure that everybody's happy and that each gets sufficient exposure, and we believe we were able to accomplish that goal.”
Check out Gidi and Udi’s work and join “The People Speak” Competition. It’s your opportunity to animate history and show us your unique take on a famous speech.
Go to Aniboom.com/History today!