Guerilla FX Shoots, Edits, Posts, Creates VFX For General Mills "Whole Grain Nation II"
To promote the news that all General Mills Bi G cereals are made with whole grain, General Mills and Campbell Mithun (Minneapolis, MN) partnered with Guerilla FX (New York, NY) to create a :30 branding spot, "Whole Grain Nation II," which began airing nationally April 2nd.
Guerilla FX, an independent design, effects and post finishing company, is the natural out growth of the relationship created when 0:2:60 Executive Producer Doug Robbins first signed Visual Effects Designer/Editor/Director Thor Raxlen for commercial direction. The two launched Guerilla FX, a uniquely creative, vertically integrated company, that has just completed the production, effects and both the offline and online post for "Whole Grain Nation II" from General Mills, the first leading food manufacturer to make all of its Big G breakfast cereals a good or excellent source of whole grain.
As this spot opens, the viewer sees fields of wheat, lovely country barns and, ultimately urban environments that include passengers boarding a bus, a city skyscraper (with a projection of wheat on its façade), and a variety of customers who praise the benefits of Big cereals made whole grain which include Honey Nut Cheerios, Chex, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Total, Lucky Charms and many others. "Are you part of the whole grain nation? Look for the G and you are there," is the spot's tag.
"Since I had cut the previous General Mills whole grain spots, the agency asked me to do this one as well. This time however, Guerilla created and finished the spot, which is less about eating cereal and more about the lifestyle of the whole grain nation in which everyone benefits from adding more whole grain to their diet," Guerilla FX Director/Creative Director Thor Raxlen explained. "We did face one unique challenge. Although the spot was to look like spring, we shot our footage just three days after a major storm dumped nearly two feet of snow on New York. Sometimes moments of adversity create unique opportunities, and we were fortunate to find little pockets that were interesting. We were within 20 miles of Manhattan and trying to make the footage look like we were in a half dozen locations around the country so we had to get really creative with where and what we could shoot. A lot of the footage was lensed with hand held cameras and long lenses which allowed the camera to discover our subjects. When you are working on material that you shoot and hand off to someone else, that is one level of commitment; but, when you shoot the footage and know at the end of the day you have to put it together, the level of commitment is appreciably greater. We had only eight days to complete this job, and everyone gave their all - the Guerilla FX team and the agency folks as well," he continued.
Doug Robbins, Guerilla FX Executive Producer added, "What made this collaboration really special was the opportunity it gave Thor and Guerilla to take a project from preliminary discussions through the shoot, editing and effects. On a business level, and on a creative level, it's a truly wonderful experience!"