INTERSpectacualr gives some kitch to Discovery's Science Channel

The team at New York design and concept studio INTERspectacular have written and directed four, new animated commercials for Discovery's The Science Channel. This project also included the INTERspectacular team penning the channel's new tagline: "A World Without Science is a World Without Discovery."

This tagline serves as the creative premise behind the 4 new spots, as each one tackles the question: what would the world we live in be like if we didn't have the wonderful inventions science has provided?

According to INTERspectacular's Co-Founders/Creative Directors Luis Blanco and Michael Uman, not only was their team given creative carte blanche with the project's direction and writing, but also with its choice of animation. They chose Illustrator Josh Cochran for the project, and as Uman says: "We used Josh's drawings as the straight man to our comedy." Featuring a very 1950s palette with a little bit of retro thrown in, the illustrations have a "science pulp feel" to them, similar to old science textbooks and education films.

Blanco notes too that this project emphasizes INTERspectacular's continuing mission to diversify both in terms of its creative talent and client base. The studio has garnered numerous awards (including a series of Bronze awards at the 2006 Promax/BDA Conference) for its character animation for client Comedy Central. "We made an intentional and conscious visual departure with this project for The Science Channel."

INTERspectacular looked at a number of animators and chose Ben Lee, who has his own toy company Nanospore. A fellow member of the "vinyl subculture," Lee was able to flesh out Cochran's illustrations perfectly. Long-time friends, the duo attended college together but this was their first collaboration to date and a perfect pairing, explains INTERspectacular Executive Producer Greg Babiuk. "The key for this project," he says, "from a production standpoint was not getting in the way of the illustrations and animations. It took a delicate hand to stay true to the illustrations' visual intent, and we achieved that." Other animators who worked on this project were Andrew Macfarlane and Efrain Cintron, with music & sound design by Human.