Director applies his visual effects acumen
to David & Goliath’s appealing spot blending live action and CG Minions.

LOS ANGELES—A Common Thread’s Clay Staub has directed a new campaign for Universal Studios and Los
Angeles agency David & Goliath that encourages park patrons to “find your
inner Minion.” A bright and bubbly blend of live action, visual effects and computer
animation, the spot promotes the park’s new attraction Despicable Me: Minion
Mayhem.

A family arrives at Universal Studios to find the park overrun with
Minions, impulsive, mischievous yellow creatures featured in the films Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2. They splash about in a fountain and duel with
churros before dashing off to the new Despicable
Me: Minion Mayhem ride—while encouraging the family to follow. When mom,
dad and the two kids hop into one of the car’s rides, they are magically
transformed into Minions themselves.

Known for his visual effects expertise (he served as second unit director
on 300, Dawn of the Dead and Man of
Steel), Staub directed live action scenes to conform to complicated CG elements.
Most scenes were a mix of live, animation and visual effects components and
each piece had to work technically and help tell the story in a fun and visual
way. To accomplish the latter, Staub encouraged the actors to interact with
unseen CG characters.  “Our lead actor
didn’t have a lot of experience with visual effects but by midday he assured
me, he could ‘see’ the Minions,” Staub says.

The visuals are beautiful and the performances Staub draws from his human
cast are spot on—a mixture of magic and fun. The family’s sense of wonder and
surprise is evident from the first appearance of the captivating yellow
creatures.

Staub’s previous experience with the creative team from David &
Goliath also aided in making a complicated shoot go smoothly. “We’ve got a
great relationship,” he says. “We all want the same thing, we were all there to
problem-solve and we all made it happen!”

A Common Thread is located at 4081
Redwood Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90066. For more information, call
310.823.7300 or visit www.acommonthread.tv

Credits

Client:              Universal Studios 

Title:                Despicable Me Minion Mayhem 

Production:
     A Common Thread. Clay Staub, Director;
J.P. McMahon and Tristan Drew, Executive Producers.

Agency:           David
& Goliath. David Angelo Chairman, Chief Creative Officer; Carol Lombard
Head of Production/Managing Director; Carrie Lighthall, Senior Broadcast
Producer; Ben Purcell, Steve Yee and Chris Robertson, Group Creative Directors;
Kris Grove Møller, Associate Creative Director; Mike Wilson and Allen Yu, Art
Directors; Courtney Pulver, Copywriter; Sarah Allen Junior Art Director.

Editorial:
       Spinach Editorial. Adam Bright,
Managing Director/Editor; Jonathan Carpio, Production Coordinator.

Animation:
     Illumination Entertainment. Rory
Phillips, Gail Harrison, Fabrice Joubert and  Frederic Hopp.

VFX:                 Eight VFX. Baptiste Andreiux,
Shira Boardman.