Monkeyhead Creates Quirky 3D Promos

Culver City, California-based Monkeyhead does a lot of work for Red Bull.

But when the motion design house was asked to create a graphics package for “On the Wings of Glory”, the five-part TV series documenting the 2010 Red Bull Flugtag, they departed from the serious, edgy look they normally use for the energy drink maker and offered up something quirky and funny instead. “I think they were expecting something more serious from us but we liked the idea of doing an opener that captured the fun and spirit of the event,” recalls Josh Sahley, Monkeyhead’s founder and creative director. “They loved our test run and gave us the green light to go ahead.” 

With just two weeks to complete the project, Monkeyhead’s four-person creative team started by making mockups of their cartoony renderings in Photoshop. The bulk of the work, including 3D modeling and animation, was done with MAXON’s CINEMA 4D. 

Sahley has been using CINEMA 4D for years “because you can get cool results quickly.” Monkeyhead also used CINEMA 4D recently to create a 30-second teaser and full graphic promo for HBO’s 25th Anniversary Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame Concert. 

The project, which focused on graphics meant to capture characteristics of each artist, such as Bruce Springsteen’s battered guitar, earned Monkeyhead a gold award for art direction and design for a special event promo at last year’s PromaxBDA awards.

What’s a Flugtag?

Flugtag means “flying day” in German, and since 1991 the Red Bull Flugtag has been challenging people all over the world to build their own human-powered flying machines and attempt to get them airborne when launched off a 30-foot-high deck – which, fortunately, is always above water.

“On the Wings of Glory” chronicled the efforts of six U.S. teams as they created, built and attempted to pilot their crafts at events last year in Miami, the Twin Cities, Long Beach and Philadelphia. Host Bert Kreischer accompanied the teams from place to place and even launched his own flying, TV-shaped contraption at the Philadelphia competition. Watch the show opener here!

To create the opener’s zany, flying-Flugtag-filled world, Monkeyhead modeled some of the actual crafts being piloted at the events. Because all of the flying machines designed by Flugtag participants must be approved before the competition, Monkeyhead was able to use their basic blueprint layouts as a basis for their designs before tweaking them a little for a more outrageous look.

Adding to the off-the-wall look of the graphics are the Flugtags actually swooping overhead in the opener (In reality, of course, almost never defying gravity and plunging straight into the water). As the Flugtags zoom and sputter above the water, the scene wipes to reveal each of the four cities the teams visit the event. Though the Flugtags were designed to be fairly simple, the creative team did add a few details to make each one unique. The cake’s frosting, for example, includes all the little ridges and individual flowers you’d expect from a good decorator. 

Even the water veered from reality after the Monkeyhead team tossed out their original photorealistic look for “a dream world of water that looks almost like a smooth, jelly-like substance,” says Sahley. “We thought the realism took away from the fun, so we used deformers and textures to make the water look more gelatinous.” Though they know many people won’t notice the reflections on the water, they took the time to make them stand out because they like the “cartoony touch” they add to the look. “I like to do something original for every piece on which we work and the water look and feel is definitely an original in this one,” he says. “It’s an odd little project that we had a blast working on and I think it shows.”

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