When you’re done with your upcoming seizure, let’s talk.

Around 5:00 pm, there was a flurry of email and IM activity at local agencies and production facilities. “Are you going to the Speedshape cocktail party?”, “Yeah, I’m going, are you?” And next thing we knew we were toasting with nearly 500 of our friends and colleagues – though we were only expecting about 250. I guess the pile of coins we tossed in fountains all those years finally paid off. Those who attended won’t soon forget the name Speedshape, and neither will the three exhausted valets.

Here are ninety photos of party people. There are a couple hundred more on the Speedshape Facebook Page. While you’re visiting, why not “Like” Speedshape? We’ll like you right back.

When you’re forced to leave some of the most impressive CG work ever done on the cutting room floor, you know you’re doing things right. What did make it in was the absolute best of Speedshape: car chases, cult star Norman Reedus, high-flying jets, killer stunt driving, sultry women, and smoky burnouts–all painstakingly paired with some of the sharpest, cleanest, and most downright thrilling CG ever created.

If you come away impressed, keep this in mind: some of this won’t even make our next reel.

You were thinking Speedmedia, right? Well, maybe not, but you should be. Because we’re not just offering a choice in an industry where little exists, we’re offering a far better choice.

A more cost-effective choice. A choice with responsive, agreeable customer service. A choice that offers faster turnaround. Most important of all, a choice that genuinely appreciates your business, and will bend over backward to prove it.

We’re not out to corner the market in post production, distribution, and asset management. But we might just have a monopoly on doing it the right way.

Speedmedia. Not the biggest. Just the best.

So working from CAD data, we created a pair of riveting demos to show all the engineering features of the new powertrains, which were then interspersed with CG-driven driving footage, 360-degree burnouts, and traditional film footage. In addition, Team Detroit asked us to help direct the new exterior performance driving scenes and internal engine/oil scenes.

When it comes to engine demos, Speedshape is one serious performance machine.

Speedshape certainly made the right choice in joining forces with the ideal digital partners. It all started with Speedshape London winning the project, and then all of our offices jumped right in and started grinding.

Since there were no Lexus CT200h vehicles available for the shoot, CD Jonas Hallberg of the meteoric agency Skinny NYC asked us to replace the stand-in Toyota Matrix with a digital CT200h. Then, he paired us with director James Brown, Producer Ari McGarry and the rest of the highly-capable Skunk/Stink Digital production team to really make it shine.

Right out of the gate, we knew we had to make custom low light nighttime markers to create better tracking with the beautiful low-light photography by Claudio Miranda. Once captured, we used the 3D model provided by Lexus to seamlessly and transparently build the CT200h over the proxy Matrix. Then, to create the interactive user POV experience, we worked with Skunk/Stink to find the ideal lens and field of view to film the experience to perfection.

The project isn’t over yet, but there’s one thing we already know for sure: working with this crew turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve ever made, and we can’t wait for you to be the navigator on 05-13-2010.

View the “Dark Ride” trailer in HD on YouTube

Critical Mass had done their homework, so they were ready with background comps for all the sections, and Creative Director Steve Rowcliffe worked with us to design the text, icons, and web functionality.

We set the virtual vehicle into the backgrounds, crafted feature close-ups, provided drive-outs, and finished up by doing all of the flash programming for the entire site. The result was a web site that engaged and informed, and we really enjoyed working with the folks at CM.

All in all, you might say we even achieved a Big Bang.

Then, to bring this watershed thinking to life on the web, they made another wise decision: bringing us in. Working closely with the creative team, we completely modeled the product and created high-resolution CG assets of the pads, tampons, and boxes.

We also helped to create compelling 360-degree spins to show off all the new features of the products, and since extreme close-ups were definitely on the menu, we made sure that the texture and detailing were perfect, and that the transition from CG to live action was seamless.

When it came to working to the Kotex project, our production cycles were totally in sync.

If you’re thinking nothing good can come of this, you definitely don’t work at Speedshape. Because when we got the chance to do a web intro for Doritos and the folks behind the Madden NFL games, we couldn’t imagine anything better.

Our clients already had the living room visual ready to go, and asked us to provide menacing players, a flurry of snow, a bed of grass, and a mouse-activated panoramic sweep of the room. By grabbing the screen prompt, users can see totally different vantage points at the moment the players burst into the room. In addition, if users linked the promo with their Facebook account, a picture from their photo album showed up in the frame on the virtual desk.

Next time you get the urge for some football, we suggest you go to the door and check the peephole first.

To ensure that our work matched the quality of the broadcast creative, we attended the live shoot and captured 3D scans and modeling data as well as high-resolution photographs.

Once it was all rendered and output, we used it to produce a total of nine demos, ranging from interior features to on-road handling and collision-avoidance technology. Looking at both motion and still visuals, we couldn’t be happier about how they turned out.

Speedshape and excellent CG. There we go being redundant again.