Read what Sean Ehringer thinks about psychology in advertising as a contributor in the Shots article.

Kohl’s “Just Another Day at the Office for Jennifer Lopez” debuted at #1 on the Ad Age Viral Video Chart with over 2 million hits!

Read more about Kohl’s campaign as featured on Creativity.

Check out Director Erich Joiner’s entire campaign featuring both Jennifer Lopez & Mark Anthony here.

Read more about the National Geographic: King Tut campaign as featured on Adweek and Creativity.

Check out Director J.J. Adler’s entire campaign here.

In a new online reality show, Craftsman is searching for people that lack any handyman skills, but who must be willing to take on challenges while seeking DIY (Do it Yourself) knowledge. The twist is that the star of the show receives tweets from an online audience in order to help him survive in the wild, all while streaming live. The first live drop debuts today!

For background on the show, check out the teaser below:

This is a new co-directing project between Live Action Director Matt Ogens and Interactive Director Grant Skinner, produced by Tool and Y&R Chicago.

Read about the new project in The New York Times or on Tube Filter.

Read more about the ‘People For Good’ campaign as featured on Creativity.

Check out the entire campaign here.

Tool is thrilled to announce the signing of commercial, film and music video director James Brown, formerly of Smuggler/Stink. With a broad range, experience shooting around the world, and work characterized by an expansive and refreshing variety of pulse-pounding, eye-catching, and utterly memorable visual techniques, Brown is a unique talent who considerably bolsters Tool’s already impressive directing roster.

As a commercials director, Brown has established lasting creative relationships with brands such as PlayStation, Nike, adidas and Microsoft, among others. He has also shot work for Eurostar, Vodafone, eBay, Guinness, FIFA, Rolling Rock, Coca-Cola, and MasterCard. He has shepherded numerous celebrities through high-profile projects, including Eva Mendes, Andy Richter, Michael Fassbender, Ronaldinho and Wayne Rooney.

Brown’s film work includes the interactive short Dark Ride with Norman Reedus (Boondock Saints); a half hour comedy, One Wedding and a Funeral; and two LA International Short Film Fest-featured shorts, Stuck in Traffic and An African Dream. Brown’s resume in the music video world includes videos for Faithless, Tori Amos, The Spice Girls, Finley Quaye and Apollo 400, among others.

“James is a creative visionary,” noted Tool EP Brian Latt. “I love his brand of filmmaking. He has a gift for creating a powerful visual narrative and bringing an emotional intensity to the story.”

His commercial and music video work has been nominated and won awards worldwide and has been featured at film festivals. Brown’s work has been recognized by the U.N., the Guggenheim Museum, the Webbys, Cannes, Clios, Andys, New York Festival, Epica, International Food & Beverage, Australasia, First Boards, Music Week CADS, and One Show awards.

Prior to taking up the director’s chair, Brown was a film editor at VTR in London. He also spent time as a photojournalist for the Japan Times, an experience that nourishes his work to this day. Alongside developing his photographic eye, Brown worked as a screenwriter in Tokyo before expanding his narrative range by completing a novel while traveling through Thailand.

Read more about Mr. Brown in the Creativity article.

On the heels of their FWA SOTD for the WebGL based HelloRacer, interactive directing team HelloEnjoy have put together this handy guide on the pros and cons of Unity3D and WebGL. Enjoy!

Check out the details behind this interactive YouTube Experience here.

View the YouTube Experience here.

Based on the strength of his Shots-featured 2010 work—Bud Light “Clothing Drive” and Newport Beach Film Festival “Drama” — Erich scores well into Shots’ top-20 league for commercial directors as the 8th seed. Check out the rankings here.

Read more about Erich in his Shots’ Source contributor feature.

DP Shane Hurlbut gives a behind-the-scenes look into some of the technical aspects of Zada’s 9-camera shoot for Sapient Nitro’s Yahoo! Sport interactive game: “Penalty Shootout.”

Credits: Shane Hurlbut, ASC of Hurlbut Visuals

See the work.

Since most consumers could benefit from learning a thing or two about insurance, RPA brought in Tool to design, shoot and create the web presence for University of Farmers, a sort of higher learning institution that brings the crazy mishaps of the real world right into the classroom. Take “Auto Shop,” for example, if you answer the questions on the quiz right, you’re good to go, but if you answer the questions wrong, you’ll see just how fast your car could get jacked. But, hey, at least you’ll have learned something valuable in the process.

Tool Director Jason Zada shot all the live-action and worked with our team to oversee the entire production—from the live-action shoot and post-production to the banner development.

View the web experience on the FWA website.

Creativity Online once again selects Tool for inclusion into their Special Report: Top Production Companies of 2010.

In 2009, Tool quickly transformed from traditional spots shop to a tech-driven, multimedia player, thanks to the addition of digital pros like Carlos Ulloa and Grant Skinner. The benefits of the change were obvious in its 2010 reel, which included Droga5’s innovative online game of Keepie Uppie for Puma, which challenged users to keep Maradona in an endless round of kickups, directed/developed by Skinner; the Touching Stories iPad app, which showed off the storytelling possibilities of the device with four interactive tales directed by Geordie Stephens, Erich Joiner, Jason Zada, Sean Ehringer and Tom Routson and Leo Burnett’s “David on Demand” social media experiment. And although Tool is now top of mind when it comes to digital creativity, spots clearly are still a strongsuit. Highlights include “Clothing Drive,” DDB Chicago’s follow-up to “Swear Jar” and RPA’s artsy pair of promos for The Newport Beach Film Festival, directed by Erich Joiner, and sweat pants drama for Tide-to-Go (“Give Up Pants”) out of Saatchi, New York. And it looks like more interesting things are to come, with new additions to the Tool kit: former Crispin talent Matt Bonin came on board as executive producer, while the creative talents from The Onion signed on to the roster.

Read the New York Times article.

View The Onion’s Reel.

We’re please to see that SHOOT decided to feature Sean in their “Directors Showcase” edition. The article focuses on Sean’s recent experience concepting, writing and directing his interactive iPad story “Jerry and Sarah” — part of Tool’s iPad-based app, “Touching Stories.”

Read the article from Shoot Magazine

View Sean’s Reel

From what Jason regards as his biggest achievement to date to playing video games for fun… and work, the interview bounces around topics with questions about his past, present and websites ten years into the future.

Link:  Read Full Interview on FWA

If you build it, they will come. That seemed to be the running theme of FITC SF conference, as Grant shared a number of his recent thought-provoking experiments that he has done for fun, but hopes will inspire and evolve into commercial work.

Grant joined some amazing creative technologists and digital artists at FITC, ranging from Erik Natzke to Theo Watson to Ben Fry. We had the pleasure of attending FITC and found that many of these innovators have had a similar path to success – experiment, build physical prototypes and then the commercial work will follow.

During the process of exploring and building physical prototypes for the most compelling ideas they’ve dreamed up, they encounter and solve a number of technical problems, and ultimately turn their abstract ideas into something much more tangible. Often times the commercial work follows based on these prototypes, as agencies and clients are then able to better see and understand their creative vision for these “next generation projects.” As a result, “building” has become a vital part of their creative process.

Here are some experiments that Grant shared during his talk:

Remote Control Slot Car:

AIR for Android Wireless Slot Car Gas Pedal from Grant Skinner on Vimeo.

Audio Racing:

Audio Racing from Grant Skinner on Vimeo.

Androideroids:

Androideroids (rough cut) from Grant Skinner on Vimeo.

4 interactive films shot by Sean Ehringer, Erich Joiner, Tom Routson, Geordie Stephens, Jason Zada—and contained in one single app—these interactive, live-action, short stories evolve storytelling in ways that have never been done before on the iPad.

Watch “Touching Stories” – iPad Demo + Behind The Scenes:

“Touching Stories” – iPad Demo + Behind The Scenes from Tool of North America on Vimeo.

The Creds:

Spot Title: “Jerry and Sarah”
Directed by Sean Ehringer
Launch Date: June 28, 2010

Created by Tool of North America + Domani Studios

Live Action & Digital Production Company: Tool of North America
Executive Producers: Brian Latt & Matt Bonin
Executive Producer Digital: Dustin Callif
DP: Richard Henkels
Production Designer: Janet Nelson
Live Action Producers: Lauren Bayer & Chad Forsch
Associate Digital Producer: Jesse Pugh

iPad Development: Domani Studios
Executive Creative Director: Jon Hills
Lead Developer: Micah Acinapura
Digital Producer: Robbie Tilton
Director of Production: Shawn Clarke

Editorial Company: Lost Planet
Editorial Producer: Bill Fortney
Editor: Victor Brown
Online Company (with location): Liquid Studios
Company 3 – Artist: Matt Turner

Talent:
Sarah- Dru Mouser
Jerry- Brandon Moynihan
Man- Pramod Kumar

Shoot Location: Los Angeles, CA

Back to “Touching Stories”

The Creds:

Spot Title: “Triangle”
Directed by Tom Routson
Launch Date: June 28, 2010

Created by Tool of North America + Domani Studios

Live Action & Digital Production Company: Tool of North America
Executive Producers: Brian Latt & Matt Bonin
Executive Producer Digital: Dustin Callif
DP: Bill Pope
Production Designer: Jeffrey Beecroft
Live Action Producers: Caroline Pham/Peter Sprouse
Associate Digital Producer: Jesse Pugh

iPad Development: Domani Studios
Executive Creative Director: Jon Hills
Lead Developer: Micah Acinapura
Digital Producer: Robbie Tilton
Director of Production: Shawn Clarke

Editorial Company: Lost Planet
Editorial Producer: Bill Fortney
Editor: Victor Brown
Online Company : Liquid Studios
Telecine:Technicolor
Artist: Stephen P. Arkle
Music Company: Yessian LA:
Executive Producer: Michael Yessian
Composer/Arranger: Andy Grush

Talent:
Woman- Natasha Blasick
Man- Paul Zies
Minister- Phillip Ward

Shoot Location: Los Angeles, CA

Back to “Touching Stories”

The Creds:

Spot Title: “The Most Interesting Couple in Britain”
Directed by Geordie Stephens
Launch Date: June 28, 2010

Created by Tool of North America + Domani Studios

Live Action & Digital Production Company: Tool of North America
Executive Producers: Brian Latt & Matt Bonin
Executive Producer Digital: Dustin Callif
DP: Flor Collins
Live Action Producer: Jeff Tanner
Live Action Production Supervisor: Kevin Clark
Associate Digital Producer: Jesse Pugh

iPad Development: Domani Studios
Executive Creative Director: Jon Hills
Lead Developer: Micah Acinapura
Digital Producer: Robbie Tilton
Director of Production: Shawn Clarke

Editorial Company: Lost Planet
Editorial Producer: Bill Fortney
Editor: Victor Brown
Online Company: Liquid Studios
Music Company: APM

Talent:
Danish Girl Scout- Greg Castle
Danish Girl Scout- Hal Rudnick
Danish Girl Scout- Rob Janas
Danish Girl Scout- Jordan Morris
Knight- Joel Bond
Maureen- Evan Arnold
Menu Girl- Jacqueline Smyth
Secretary- Lola Kelly
Stanley- Tom Konkle

Shoot Location: Los Angeles, CA

Back to “Touching Stories”

The Creds:

Spot Title: “All Ends, Ends All”
Directors: Erich Joiner & Jason Zada
Co-Written With Tim Immordino
Launch Date: June 28, 2010

Created by Tool of North America + Domani Studios

Live Action & Digital Production Company: Tool of North America
Executive Producers: Brian Latt & Matt Bonin
Executive Producer Digital: Dustin Callif
DP: Andrew Shulkind
Production Designer: Samantha Gore
Live Action Producer: Joby Ochsner
Live Action Production Supervisor: Brian Armstrong
Associate Digital Producer: Jesse Pugh

iPad Development: Domani Studios
Executive Creative Director: Jon Hills
Lead Developer: Micah Acinapura
Digital Producer: Robbie Tilton
Director of Production: Shawn Clarke

Editorial Company: Lost Planet
Editorial Producer: Bill Fortney
Editor: Victor Brown
Online Company: Liquid Studios
Company 3/Artist: Matt Turner
Music Company: APM

Talent:
Hero- Will Collyer
Cowboy- Wayne Baldwin
Gangster Boss- John Polce
Bosses Wife- Celia Diane
Women in Pool- Virginia Hey

Shoot Location: Los Angeles, CA

Back to “Touching Stories”

Live action and integrated directorial talent Jason Zada of Tool has led yet another unique site execution – this time for online broker hotels.com – that provides a unique way to explore some of the most popular cities the company operates in. The website, built in conjunction with Y&R Chicago and marked with exceptionally high production value, stars the campaign’s existing Claymation character, “Smart” – voiced by comedian Ed Helms – operating in a colorful augmented reality that is a deviation from traditional augmented sites that do not offer direct interaction with a character. While the site is in many ways an exceptional technological achievement, it is Zada’s visual storytelling that truly sets it apart from other augmented reality projects, as he applies the same storytelling point of view from live-action projects to the interactive realm.

The technologically ambitious project leverages every computer feature from webcams to microphones to synthesize the various interactive components, extending Smart’s universe to allow people to explore Hotels.com’s top US-based destinations. The AR site allows the user to add a layer of content over what they see onscreen. They simply print out a “marker” on a piece of paper and then hold it up to their webcam, which causes a 3D model of their city of choice to appear.

The result is a fun, informative adventure that provides customers with a plethora of useful information as they book their trip. As the user navigates the site, Smart guides them through each city’s unique interactions: they can modify the Hollywood sign with their name by typing it into an on-screen box, whistle a tune on Bourbon Street with the microphone detection feature, or modify any other Claymation city on the list. The site also provides weather, local event information, and deals for each city.

“This idea grew out of a series of TV spots starring Smart. Y&R wanted to extend this into the online world, so they approached Jason,” noted Tool Digital EP Dustin Callif. “He’s rapidly gaining a reputation for creating entertaining live action campaigns, yet still loves to play in the interactive sandbox. This is the kind of innovative work that not just Jason, but everyone at Tool strives to create.”

Zada conceived the site and helped execute the campaign, pushing the capabilities of the various forms of technology that he integrated into the site and architecting the optimal way to do the playback. He treated the project as if it were an interactive animated film, playing a large role in the production of a music soundtrack and the sound design. The result is a superb balance of the concurrent playback of video, 3D and augmented reality that tells a fun, simple and surprising story. Tool also advised the voiceover lines using Helms as the voice of Smart.

While Zada’s Salt101.com site (Carmichael Lynch) recently earned FWA’s site of the day and his Nike’s Pro Combat banners (W+K Portland) were shortlisted for a 2010 Webby, hotels.com presented an entirely new opportunity. “I had been attracted to the idea of augmented reality, but had never seen something that could cross the lines of being useful but also entertaining,” stated Zada. “Using the character Smart, I was excited to take people on a journey through 10 cities across the US. Using AR, we were able to really transport the viewer to a new location and experience the city on their terms through sight, sound and personalization.”

This site and others have been so highly regarded that multiple agencies have approached Tool for three more interactive sites. The Hotels.com site, www.virtualvacay.com, launched the last week in April.

Tool Director Geordie Stephens just finished yet another hilarious spot for Burger King in the latest installment of an ongoing relationship between the studio and Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The spot, which stars the restaurant chain’s iconic King character, is a deft mix of action-movie chase scene and slapstick humor that shows off Stephens’ versatility and adaptability.

Following a major recent campaign for Nike via Wieden+Kennedy/Portland, Tool’s director Jason Zada furthers his plunge into the live action and digital realm with the launch of a fully interactive website that makes the most unlikely of products – Diamond Crystal® salt – fun, interesting and educational. The site, www.salt101.com, built in close collaboration with Carmichael Lynch and sister PR firm, Carmichael Lynch Spong, features renowned television personality and award-winning author Alton Brown dispensing cooking tips with his trademark humor and expertise.

The site’s main areas are a unique test kitchen and a timeless laboratory which provided the setting for a pair of unique interactive games that flawlessly combine live action footage of Brown with various digital components. The kitchen features “The Proper Pinch,” a game in which the user can control Brown’s hand to apply the correct sprinkling of salt to meat, and “Finishing Touches,” in which participants can choose food items to add salt to, from ice cream to cookies, and Brown explains the exact effect that the addition will have to each item. In the lab portion of the site, the “Power of the Pyramid” game allows users to try destroying a salt pyramid with different weapons. The “Stickability” game offers the chance to apply salt to different kinds of food to see how well it sticks.

Zada was creatively involved from conception to final product. This being a non-linear creative execution, Jason worked closely with the agency creatives to conceptualize the games and help write the scripts and story trees; designed the set and shot all of the live-action footage; orchestrated the web integration of live action and digital; and led the Tool digital team that constructed the website.

“The agency got way more than they asked for when they chose Jason to lead this project,” noted Tool Digital EP Dustin Callif. “Not only is he one of the best integrated directors around and totally comfortable working with celebrity talent like Alton Brown, but he’s doing some incredibly interesting things in the cross platform space. He handled all the live action, and creative directed all the post, web design, and web development. The interactive games are fun and flawless. This is exactly the type of project that not only Jason, but all of Tool’s directors are looking to do much more of in the future.”

“This was a one-of-a-kind project, and it was an incredible experience on multiple levels,” stated Zada. “First off, the agency was incredible to work with – very easy to collaborate with on the scripts and they gave me a ton of room to run with the creative. Second, Alton is a really passionate and knowledgeable guy, and we had a lot of fun tweaking the scripts to add a touch of his peculiar humor without turning him into a character – he wanted to play himself. Finally, creating a site that was at once compelling and educational was an awesome challenge, and everyone around me, from the agency to Alton to the staff at Tool, really came together to make this a memorable experience.”

Tool of North America Director Harry Cocciolo just completed work on a hilariously irreverent spot promoting Oxfam America via 15 Ideas Chicago.

The :30 features a prim woman, who begins the spot seated on a beautiful living room sofa with her daughter, expressing her earnest shock upon having discovered that she could fight hunger and poverty simply by “giving a $%@#.” She ventures out into the community, encouraging dignified and shocked passersby to join her in giving a $%@# as she picks up her dry cleaning, pushes a child on a swing, and rides through a residential neighborhood in an ice cream truck.

The synthesis of the imagery of everyday chores with the brazen and incongruous narrative results in an unforgettable, attention-grabbing message that concludes with an appeal to visit OxfamGifts.com and buy gifts that contribute to Oxfam America’s efforts to fight poverty.