Atomic Props & Effects, Ltd. Newsletter

Vol. 6 Issue 4

Fall 2011

Jumpstart your Brainstorming

Inspire your next flash of brilliance the easy way. Atomic Props now offers video conferencing to bring the latest batch of "beyond wow" ideas direct to you. Enjoy this sneak preview.

Call to schedule 612.331.1335

Tech Edge

Plug and Play with vitaminwater

Vitaminwater Power UP

When is a bus shelter not a bus shelter? When it's also a hyperhandy recharging station. Atomic Props transformed this basic bus shelter into a convenient way for commuters to recharge their mobile phones, music players and even gaming devices.

The trick to turning on the power took some creative engineering (and incurred a few minor shocks) but resulted in a highly reliable, repeatable solution.

Client: vitaminwater

Agency: Crispin Porter+Bogusky

Location: Chicago, New York, Boston and Los Angeles

Congratulations, David Sebastian!

Last issue we asked for guesses on how much sand the Target Sandbox held. David Sebastian with Starcom Worldwide, Chicago, was closest to the answer of 16.5 yards of sand. We hope you enjoyed your prize, David!

Here's this issue's Prop Quiz: Was the Pudding Face based on a real person or a cartoon character?

A. Real person

B. Cartoon character

Guess now.You may win a Starbuck's gift card.

Donuts, Anyone?

Stacy Colson and Melissa Strom, the Atomic Props sales team, will soon be in New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, LA ... basically wherever you are.

Call to set up a meeting: 612.331.1335.

Pudding Head Dominates Skyline

Smiley tweets vs. frowny tweets kept this moody pudding head on the move. The mouth changed shape based on the results of the live Twitter feed. Atomic Props brought this guy to life with a combination of low tech and high tech.

The key to the lifelike face was digital printing on fabric stretched over a carved shape. Surprisingly the more detailed the carving, the more fake the guy looked. So the Atomic Props team found just the right balance to create a realistically goofy grin. That was the easy part.

More complicated was syncing the tweets to direct the expressions. Animatronics pulled the mouth in seven positions to create a full range of upward and downward motion.

Client: JELL-O
Agency: Crispin Porter+Bogusky
Location: New York

It's All about the Ball

The mission: Create a bus shelter that looks like the beautiful Coach Poppy Flower perfume bottle. The challenge: Get that iconic ball on top just right so that it reflects the brand in a way that is far larger than life.

The Atomic Props artists started with a styrofoam block turned on a gigantic, custom-made lathe to create the ball. Then they routed images into the ball to faithfully reproduce the perfume topper's embossed look. It took some experimenting to find the ideal paint formula that would have the desired chrome-like effect. Add a see-through acrylic bench to showcase the bottle's base, and you have
a bus shelter that is bound to get a lot of buzz.

Client: Coach/Estee Lauder
Agency: JWT, New York
Location: Chicago

Creative Challenge
Who is the most creative person at your company?

Send this Atomic Blast to that person and you may receive a Starbuck's gift card. First 25 people to forward this issue win. You can only win one gift card. (But you can forward this to as many people as you want!)

Did someone send this Atomic Blast to you?

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