London effects, compositing and animation boutique Clear has been keeping its four 3D operators busy of late with two effects-heavy promos for Jamiroquai and FC Kahuna.

Jamiroquai's "Corner of the Earth," directed by Jason Smith of London-based Flynn Productions, required animators John Harvey and Ollie Nash to create a photo real universe to envelope band front man J Kay. Kay, bedecked in an Indian headdress, dances in a forest amidst the cosmos as it circles around him in a locked-tracking fashion.

"The whole idea of JK dancing with the planets around him could be very twee. That's why [Smith] wanted it to be believable," says Clear producer Steve Garrad of the promo, which originally called for a 3D hummingbird. "To make the planet shots believable we had to track the actual plates so that the 3D sat in that environment. That means the planets move around with the camera." Harvey and Nash also created a stream of atomic comet dust.

Another difficult but stunning shot required the talents of inferno artist Simon Huhtala. The opening shot follows the camera from the brain of J Kay, through his eye and out into the forest. The 18-second shot took four days to complete and required Huhtala to assemble plates of various stages of they eye to create one simultaneous move - all while maintaining the utmost of photo reality. Snow was also added to the forest landscape in inferno (the video was shot in South Africa).

In contrast, the 3D work done for FC Kahuna's "Machine Says Yes" was very stylized and graphical in treatment. Directed by Don Cameron of London's Method Films, the promo required 3D animators Josh George and Adrian Russell to create a cityscape from the ground up.

"Don is very stylish, minimalist director," says Garrad. "He is one of those people where it doesn't look like a lot of work, but he's a perfectionist in style." George and Russell created a cityscape that begins with line drawings reaching toward the sky, and culminate in a skyline that used photos text mapped onto CG structures. Inferno artist Jonny Hicks added color washes to the final product, which took five days of 3D and a week of inferno, and was post produced by Fleur Hollis. Clear head of production Damien Raymond-Barker oversaw both projects.

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