Manic director and VFX artist Nick Sasso shot, edited and handled all postproduction on a series of five Web virals promoting the new mobile studio/beatmaker feature of the Beaterator video game for Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP). The videos, done in collaboration with Wax Poetics for Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto), each feature known musicians lost in a creative haze as they mix new tracks on Beaterator. 



"Chico Mann"
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Sasso perfectly meshes the energy of the underground music scene and the creative capabilities of Beaterator with wordless sequences set against an array of Brooklyn and Jersey City landmarks, classic city buildings and small businesses.

"Chico Mann" features the artist of the same name rocking out to PSP on his city stoop before descending into his basement studio. "Chin Chin" and "Psycho Les" feature those artists similarly jamming between Beaterator and their studios. "KDef" stars that artist sifting through the overstuffed racks of vinyl in a glorious old record store while pausing to mix on his PSP. "Spree Wilson" is set against the soaring Brooklyn Bridge and the Hudson River, with Wilson enraptured with his creative efforts.

"Psycho Les"
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Energetic, colorful graphical patterns bring each spot to a close. Sasso shot the videos over the course of three days on a RED camera.



"Beaterator's new mobile studio is a very cool piece of technology, as it lets musicians create high-quality music that's equal to what once took a roomful of equipment to design," notes Sasso. "I wanted to create spots that captured the focus and energy of these musicians while making it apparent that the PSP was at the center of their craft, which led to awesome shots of truly talented artists immersed in a creative trance."



"Spree Wilson"
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"Nick continues to impress with his ability to take a creative concept and turn it into a final product," says Manic managing director Bob Cagliero. "He can single-handedly take on the workload that usually gets shuffled around between three or four different studios. Nick's work ethic and versatility are trademarks of our very strong staff, which is exactly why agencies keep coming back to Manic."