R!OT Goes to Extremes In Crafting Eve Video Graffiti Animation

Santa Monica, Calif. --(May 01, 2001)-- R!OT provided design and visual effects services for the new Eve video Who's That Girl? placing the hip-hop diva-along with an enormous Bengal tiger-into an eerie ice kingdom and several other virtual environments. The video is the first from Eve's just released Interscope CD.

Henry artist lisa Tomei worked on the animation transitions of Who's That Girl video

Scorpion, the follow-up to her chart-topping debut, Ruff Ryder's First Lady. The video is directed by Mars Media's Diane Martel, whose previous efforts have included Christina Aguilera's What a Girl Wants. Here, Eve performs
in a succession of unreal environments often in the accompaniment of a beautiful but intimidating tiger. The video has a very distinct look with outlandish visuals and the colors pushed to their extremes in keeping with the singer's tough, street savvy demeanor. In one scene, Eve seductively straddles a gleaming red Harley Davidson on a blood red set that seems to stretch to infinity.

R!OT deployed a team of artists who worked directly with Martel in honing the video's style and assembling its intricate scenes. Compositor Klaus Hansen fabricated the opening sequence where Eve reclines in a white apartment bathed in stark lighting while the tiger plays at her feet.

Eve and the animal were shot separately. "Placing them into the same environment was a challenge because there is a lot of interaction between the two," Hansen explained. "In order to achieve perfect integration, most of the compositing needed to be done by hand, with each frame treated as an individual work of art." Hansen produced a digital matte painting to extend the apartment set. He also created a matte painting for the Harley Davidson sequence, extending that set so that it appears to go on forever."

Verdi Sevenhuysen crafted the ice kingdom scene, where Eve and the tiger appear on an icy plateau as snow falls around them. In this case, the arctic environment was shot as a miniature. Sevenhuysen, then, composited Eve and the tiger into the environment and added the falling snow as well as the dramatic indigo sky that frames the performer from behind. "We spent a lot of time working the color balances," recalled Sevenhuysen. "All of the colors were very saturated. The director made strong artistic choices and was after a look that was definitely not realistic. Everything was pushed-it is very dynamic."

Perhaps the dynamic visual was completed by R!OT Henry artist Lisa Tomei. It consists of a sequence of cel-like animation that is intercut with the live action. Eve appears as a character in the animation that was designed by graffiti artist Coffee and done in the style of street art. Martel provided the static art to Tomei who used it as key frames, colorizing and animating them to produce the final motion sequences. "Lisa did a beautiful job on the animation transitions," observed Mars Media producer Chris Morrison. "The whole team at right, once again, did an outstanding job."

R!OT is located at 702/730 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90401. For more information, contact Richard Cormier at (310) 656-7663.

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