FLYfx was contacted by ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, which was working with the AD Council and the Now Corporation on a series of PSAs for the Veteran Support campaign. The PSAs, created by Saatchi & Saatchi pro bono, are designed to encourage Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to join IAVA's online community at www.IAVA.org, a Web site created to let veterans know that they are not alone once they return from their tours of duty.

"Camouflage" :30
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The spot, depicting a veteran at his computer in search of colleagues with whom he can connect, becomes increasingly complex, as people literally emerge from the background, like chameleons shedding their camouflage to make themselves visible. This type of shot is typically a tedious combination of practical effects along with tracking and roto work that can take days or weeks to get right.

In the 11th hour, agency creatives at Saatchi & Saatchi were happy with the results on "Camouflage," but the client wanted to kick it up a few notches, enhancing the effect of people coming out of the scenery. FLYfx got the call late in the day Friday before Veteran's Day. After reviewing the spot, they dived in.

Using a combination of masking, color correction, morphing and tracking bits onto the existing effect we were able to push the people further into the landscape before they revealed themselves by emerging from their position on screen. Autodesk Smoke 2010 2K as well as Photoshop and mocha by imagineer systems—for some of the trickier tracking challenges—all came together to push the envelope on this very cool and important spot.

Scaglione continued, "These are exactly the kind of jobs for which our clients have become to depend on FLYfx; those complex and even tedious shots that demand absolute perfection and the highest image quality. Believability is key, so you need the most powerful tools available to create smooth, seemingly impossible shots."