http://www.vfxworld.com/?...s&id=27197
Press Release from Fulltank

Santa Monica, CA (April 13, 2009) -- Creative production studio Fulltank announced today that it provided visual effects, including on-set supervision, for a CGI-intensive promo for "Chocolate Box," the new single from Prince's "MPLSoUND" album released on March 29th. The video, helmed by music video director P.R. Brown, features an all-digital fantasy world inspired by the dark urban aesthetic of SIN CITY. To view the music video, visit: http://www.fulltank.tv/pri/.

"When I started the process of bringing Prince's vision for the video to life, I was fortunate to have found the guys at Fulltank," said Director P.R. Brown of Bau-Da Design. "Throughout the project, their passion for the video was clear and they went well beyond what I thought could be produced given the time we had. It was a pleasure working with them, and they really helped bring to life the hyper stylized vision I had for the piece."

In the promo for "Chocolate Box," Prince is an all-seeing Orwellian figure, whose gaze looms over a shadowy cityscape as projected onto the sides of skyscrapers and a psychedelic airship. Rapper Q-Tip - who collaborated with Prince on the track - stars as a man in pursuit of a beautiful and mysterious woman. Their athletic hunter-hunted game of parcour takes them across rooftops and buildings. When they finally meet, the video goes from a black and white palette accented by occasional flashes of color, and crescendos into a technicolor explosion of surreal graphical elements. Neon jellyfish bob in mid-air, a giant fuchsia sphere pulsates with otherworldly energy (and Prince's omnipotent visage), and lightning zigzags across the sky. The video closes with "To be continued."

In addition to providing on-set visual effects supervision for the one-day shoot at the SOURCE film studio's greenscreen stage in Hollywood, Fulltank Creative Director Chris Do and Executive Producer Ben Morris and a team of nine artists oversaw 190 visual effects shots over the course of five very short weeks, using live-action material captured with the RED camera at 4K.

Because of this truncated timetable, Fulltank developed a workflow based more on a feature film, rather than commercial production pipeline. Instead of working shot by shot, Fulltank set very particular daily milestones, sending files through to the render farm every evening for testing in the morning. Said Chris Do, Creative Director, Fulltank, "This video pushed us to develop a custom production pipeline that we're using on future Fulltank projects. That's an opportunity rarely awarded to smaller creative shops, which aren't often able to allocate the time and resources for in-house R&D."

Despite the obvious challenge of this tight deadline, Fulltank was given almost 100 percent creative control over the VFX - an amazing opportunity to develop the look and feel of the video with director P.R. Brown. Added Do, "We were so fortunate to work with such an intuitive and organic director, who also has an extensive visual effects background. This enabled us collaborate very closely because he understood the process, and the vibe that Prince wanted to achieve."

Fulltank relied on a software toolkit comprising primarily of Adobe After Effects and Apple Shake for compositing, with Autodesk Maya and MAXON Cinema 4D for modeling, all running on Macintosh and Windows platforms on a 15 quad core render farm.

About Fulltank
Fulltank was conceived by Executive Producer Ben Morris with the core idea of building a creative production studio that captures emotion through engaging visuals and narratives. Fulltank's creative team uses its diverse background in print, illustration, typography, photography, cell-animation, design, concepting, directing and storytelling to produce imagery and ideas that deliver strong creative messages. www.fulltank.tv.

Production Credits:

DIRECTOR/EDITORIAL: P.R. Brown
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Chris Do
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Ben Morris
PRODUCER: Sean Deveaux
ART DIRECTORS: Jonathan Kim, Matt Collarafice, Takashi Takeoka.
DESIGN: Jonathan Kim, Jon Gutman, Matt Collarafice, Takashi Takeoka
COMPOSITORS: Matt Collarafice, Takashi Takeoka, David Do, Martin Jung
MATTE PAINTINGS: Thomas Yamaoka
LEAD 3D DIRECTION: Jon Gutman
3D/ANIMATION: Omar Gatica, Ian Rufuss, Alex Ceglia, Billy Maloney, Martin
Jung

The Fulltank studio and director P.R. Brown have done an awesome job for Prince.
Thanks for posting this article Asg.

Fulltank? After making that horrible video, they should change their name to Half-A-Tank or Empty Tank

It's a pretty video but I am not sure it makes a lot of sense. Then again neither does the song lyrically. Just fun, nothing etherial.

yes

I don't like the video.

They sound like sharp people, it's such a shame they couldn't link the content of the video to the meaning of the song.

Horrible, horrible video. Cheap and nasty. And they should know never to use the RED camera for greenscreen work. Not sure what the director was doing while they were shooting, eating chocolate perhaps.

i love the video its on my ipod

purplemaniac1992 said:

I like it - I think its entertaining and different and fun. Them roof tops is high !

Its all a bit spacey - and off planet
The whole thing is punchy.

Pity its not getting some air play here in the UK

It is a good-looking video, but it doesn't make any sense at all. It's not much of a chase, if that is what the idea is. The whole video is basically Q-tip and the girl walking in circles on rooftops. Prince is watching. I guess maybe the idea was ok, visually it was very good, but it wasn't directed very well. Has nothing to do with the song either. Why is she running? I thought she wanted a B-O-X of chocolates everyday?

How sad that this is the realest video he's probably ever made

bombpop said:

Not to mention she ends up in the arms of another man at the end

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

So ... Have U seen the sequel ?? pray TELL !

Wilco321 said:

is there one?!

"Choclate Box" must be the worst and most horrible Prince video ever!

The best ones are in my opinion "I wish U heaven", "Money dont matter 2nite" (Spike Lees uncut version), "Cinnamon Girl" and "Te amo Corazon". I also like the "Willing and able" video.

purplemaniac1992 said:

Q-Tip is no runner ;p But I think the video was very well shot, a lot of money went into it. Visually it's stunning and i like the concept. Videos with actual plots? Ppl, get over yourselves! Its a music video, not a movie. I like it.

japanrocks said:

[Tasteless flame snipped -Mars23]

[Edited 4/14/09 10:49am]

rudedog said:

Damn fine video Funky as hell and non-prince fans love it ...been reading non-prince threads on this so good work Fulltank...

Is this video airing on Video channels.. Or just the web site?
Hopefully MTV or VH1 will show it.....
I hate not getting to see his work.....

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

- U the one claiming U know how it ends

since it's "to be continued" - I guess there's one comming - but who knows when it comes to Prince he just might keep us hanging ...4ever. ??
[Edited 4/14/09 11:01am]

Wilco321 said:

watch the Chocolate box vid. the chick ends up in q-tips arms at the end!

And yet another Lotusflow3r.com exclusive

It's a good quality video, but it's boring. There's nothing but a pursuit over a scroll of one building top after another, like an overpriced Mario Bros game.

As a result it drags down the potential energy of the track. A little more action, choreography, movement would have enhanced its club-worthiness.

ooohhhh I am loving this video !!!! and the song is well cool ice cool

i love it i love it i luurrrrrveeeee it

The video was kinda fun, but the direction was so cheesy, I just assumed Prince directed it.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

nevermind
[Edited 4/14/09 11:33am]

MichaelHogberg said:

U must not have seen Face Down, Alphabet St., Betcha By Golly Wow or Come On.