The Park at the Mall of America - Halloween spot " The Drive"

Watch The Mall of America Halloween spot.

Production Company: Reelworks

Agency: Preston Kelly (Formerly Kerker)

Awards:

Anicomm Awards: 10 Best Animated Commercials of the Year, by Animation Magazine

Best Professional Awards, Siggraph Minnesota Electronic Theatre

Best Commissioned Film, Kalamazoo Animation Festival

Film Festival Screenings:

Holland Animation Festival (Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Anim'est (Bucharest, Romania)

Tehran International Animation Festival (Tehran, Iran)

Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival (Seoul, Korea)

Citrus Cel Animation Festival (Jacksonville, Florida)

Kalamazoon Animation Festival (Carbondale, Michigan)

Frito Lays Ad Campaign 'Shelf Talkers'

A snap shot at Ralph's in LA.

This is another campaign, 'Shelf Talkers' after its first campaign 'Cart Talkers' using the same illustration elements that I made.

One day, I went for grocery shopping, and I noticed something very.... familiar..., when I was about to pick up a bag of chips..... My illustrations!!

So yes, I got the Lays chip that day with full of excitement!

Frito Lays 'Cart Talkers'

Individual element illustrations

Frito Lays Ad Campaign 'Cart Talkers'

Illustrations for Frito Lays 2008 campaign 'Cart Talker'

Illustrator: Soyeon Kim

Art Directors: Leonardo Santos/ Matt Fraser

Agency: The Marketing Arm

Intro to Keith Urban Music Video

Yellowshed (Todd & Soyeon) made an animated intro clip for the Keith Urban's 'Kiss A Girl' music video, which is also screened during Keith Urban's 2009 ACM award performance.

Symbolic icon 'Bird' was designed, animated in traditional methods (using papers, pencils), then inked using brush pens, scanned the images, then composited in After Effects. NY city background was created in Photoshop, then combined with digitally treated green-screen footage of Keith Urban.

In the final music video, this intro footage is followed by the main sequence that NY based animator/artist, Richard Borge directed, who created unique artistic look of photo montage/live action for the spot. The concept was written by Chris Hickey.

YELLOWSHED's 30 second intro clip was on Keith Urban website as a 'sneak peak preview' until the official music video came out.

You can see the full music video at youtube.

This is one of my concept designs.

It wasn't used for the actual spot, due to its concept changes.

Transparent Movement: list of screenings

Award:

Best Experimental Film: Connecticut Film Festival

2nd Place in Experimental Film: Twin Rivers Media Festival

Film Festival Screenings:

2009 

AniFest (Trebon/ Teplice, Czech Republic) May  1-4

Kalamazoo Animation Festival Int'l (Kalamazoo, MI, US) May 14-17

Twin Rivers Media Festivals (Asheville, NC, US) May 29-31

In The Palace Short Film Festival (Balchik, Bulgaria) Jun. 20-27

Anima Mundi (Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Jul. 10-26

Square Lake Solstice Film Festival (Stillwater, MN, US) Aug. 15

The Rome International Film Festival (Rome, GA, US) Sep. 11-12

Indie-AniFest (Seoul, Korea) Sep. 17-22

California Int'l Animation Festival (Riverbank, CA, US) Sep. 27

Moving Image Film Festival (Toronto, ON, Canada) Oct. 16-18

High Desert Shorts Int'l Film Festival (Pahrump, NV, US) Nov. 6-7

Olympia Film Festival (Olympia, WA, US) Nov. 6-14

Anchorage Int'l Film Festival (Anchorage, AL, US) Dec. 4-17

2010 

Dam Short Film Festival (Boulder City, NV, US) Feb. 10-13
Big Muddy Film Festival (Carbondale, MI, US) Feb. 19-28
Lake County Film Festival (Grayslake, IL, US) Mar. 3-8
Davis Film Festival (Davis, CA, US) Mar. 11-13
Citrus Cel Animation Festival (Jacksonville, FL, US) Apr. 9-11
The Kansas City FilmFest (Kansas City, MO, US) Apr. 14-18
Griffon Int'l Film Festival (St. Joseph, MO, US) Apr. 19-23
Delta int'l Film and Video Festival (Cleveland, MS, US) Apr. 21-23
On Location: Memphis Int'l Film Fest (Memphis, TN, US) Apr. 22-25
Kansas City Art Institutes (Kansas City, MO, US) Apr. 29
The Connecticut Film Festival (Danbury, CT, US) May 4-9
Talking Pictures Festival (Evanston, IL, US) May 7-9
Artfest Film Festival (Harrisburg, PA, US) May 28-31
Gallery of Animation (Long Beach, CA, US) Jul. 15
Asian American Int'l Film Festival (NY, NY, US) Jul. 15-24
Asian Film Festival of Dallas (Dallas, TX, US) Jul. 23-29
Washougal Int'l Film Festival (Washougal, WA, US) Aug. 11-15
Landlocked Film Festival (Iowa City, IA, US) Aug. 26-29
Rappahannock Inde Film Festival (Fredericksburg, VA, US) Aug. 26-29
Sydney Underground Film Festival (Sydney, Australia) Sep. 9-11
Commffest Community Film Festival (Toronto, Canada) Sep. 22-27
Great Lakes Int'l Film Festival (Erie, PA, US) Sep. 22-29
SoCal Independent Film Festival (Hungtington Beach, CA, US) Sep. 26-Oct. 3
GIAA Festival of Short Films & Videos (Manhattan, NY, US) Oct. 1-3
The Flint Film Festival (Flint, MI, US) Oct. 15-16
Banjaluka Int'l Animated Film Festival (Banjaluka, Bosna/Hercegovina) Oct. 22-27
Directors Circle Festival of Shorts (Erie, PA, US) Nov. 8-12
-Nominated for the 'Best Experimental Film'
Red Rock Film Festival (St. George, UT, US) Nov. 11-14
Poppy Jasper Film Festival (Morgan Hill, CA, US) Nov. 12-14

2014

Monterey Museum of Art (Monterey, CA, US)

a Short Film, 'Transparent Movement' 2009

One minute experimental animation, 'Transparent Movement'.

After having spent most time working on studio projects for the clients for years (which I enjoy..., but it's definitely different from doing my own), I wanted to perk up my nerves on my 'experimental' side of brain.

The footage was made based on two dancers moving behind the screen (back-lid). It was shot on video, then I printed out selected frames. I created various shapes and images by adding drawings or paintings on top, cutting out shapes and re-composing them in layers, then re-exposed them under the down-shooter camera. Images were also multiplied and/or rearranged in Adobe Photoshop and After Effects.

Music was composed by my multi-talented friend, Tim Samoff, who was actually my classmate from animation program at Calarts.

This film has been selected for Int'l Film Festivals, and am really excited and looking forward to showing it to the public!

imdb listing

Where, There, Here: list of screenings

Award:

-Best of REEL 13 Shorts (New York, USA)

Film Festival / Public Screenings:

-Hampshire Film Festival (Fareham, Hampshire, UK)
-REEL 13 Shorts (New York, NY, US)

-Comic-Con (San Diego, CA, US)

-San Diego Int'l Children's Film Festival (San Diego, CA, US)
-Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival (Seoul, Korea)

-Square Lake Film Festival (Stillwater, MN, US)

-Indie AniFest (Seoul, Korea)

-Hyart Film Festival (Lovell, WY, US)

-Seoul Extreme Short Int'l Film Festival (Seoul, Korea)

-Flip Animation Festival (Wolverhampton, UK)

-Biennial of Animation Bratislava, Int'l Festival of Animated Films for Children (Bratislava, Slovakia)
-Tindirindis Int'l Animation Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania)

-SoDak Animation Festival (Brookings, SD, US)

-Chicago Int'l Children's Film Festival (Chicago, IL, US)

-Anymasyros (Hermoupolis, Greece)

-Los Angeles Int'l Children's Film Festival (LA, CA, US)
- Rencontres Internationales du Cinema d’Animation de Wissembourg (Wissembourg, France)
-Seattle Int'l Children's Film Festival (Seattle, WA, US)
-Providence Int'l Children's Film Festival (Providence, RI, US)
-Redcat Int'l Children's Film Festival (LA, CA, US)
-Brussels Children's Film Festival (Brussels, Belgium)
-Wonder Con (SF, CA, US)
-San Francisco Int'l Children's Film Festival (SF, CA, US)
-LA Asian Pacific Film Festival (LA, CA, US)
-Family Festival (Fort Worth, TX, US)
-Seoul Int'l Cartoon and Animation Festival (Seoul, Korea)

'WHERE THERE HERE' - Winner of the REEL 13 shorts

After a week's public votes, Soyeon's sand animation, 'WHERE, THERE, HERE' has won the broadcast slot for this week.  The Reel 13 Shorts program airs this Saturday, 9 pm EST, April 11th, 2009, on Thirteen/WNET, PBS New York.

Soyeon's sand animation 'Where There Here'

I made the original footage of this film, using sand within 2 days, a while ago...  It was shot using a video camera on a U-matic tape. I only meant to play with sand, not intending to complete this as an actual film.

Last year, I put the assembly of this movie clips on the website and, to my surprise, I received several requests to screen it in film festivals.  So I brought the footage into a computer, cleaned up the image.  There wasn't much I could do to improve the quality of the imagery, but I was able to fix some glitches.

I am just happy that this film has been shown to public in many places including Asia, Europe & America! The result is surly... way beyond my original expectation on this film!

Where There Here (숨바꼭질)

Technique: Sand animation

Length: 1 min. 30 sec.

imdb listing

Museum 1: design elements

Design elements for the butterflies, and the tree

Credits:
Directors/Designers/Animators: YELLOWSHED
Creative Director: Bryan Martin
Composer: Walter Santucci


For more information, visit YELLOWSHED blog

'Charllotte's Web'- Title Sequence visual development

Here are some samples of the visual development on the Opening Titles for the feature film, 'Charllotte's Web'

Kellogg's Morning Star Farms 'Artist'

Yellowshed: Todd & Soyeon created a commercial: Kellogg's Morning Star Farms' Veggiesodes series.

It was right between our move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, flying back and forth, trying to finish up all the businesses in Minnesota (I was still working on 'Make It Happen' PSA at Make and teaching at Ai-Minnesota) as well as selling the house in the bad housing market....

Well, it was definitely a challenge, but we made the transition all right.

More information: full credits & festival screenings of the spot can be found at yellowshed's blog

Kraft Illustration Pitch 1-Merry-Go-Round

Here are a series of spec artwork for the Kraft cheese pitch.

Kraft Illustration Pitch 2-Pop Up Book

Here is another spec work for the Kraft Cheese Product.

Kraft Illustration Pitch 3-Be My Valentine

Tang Illustration 'Orchard' & 'Fruit Dance'

Style frame & storyboard for the commercial pitch: Tang 'Magic Soccer' (Spec)

'Pushing Daisies' Opening Title pitch materials

Here are the style frame, boards & animatic for the pitch on the Opening Titles for the 'Pushing Daisies'. We didn't get the job, but we had fun coming up with the imagery & concept for the Titles of the show.

Disney's Safety Smart: episode 2 'Goes Green' & episode 3 'At the Water'

I worked on the second and third episodes of Disney's Safety Smart educational series that features Timon & Pumbaa characters from the Lion King.

My official credit is Art Director. I also worked as an animator, layout artist, prop designer and After Effects compositor.

Credits:

Production: Disney Educational Productions

Animation Production: Duck Studios

Director: Dave Bossert

Animation Director: Andrew Austin

Art Director: Soyeon Kim, Frank Montagna

Technical Director: Todd Hemker

Full credits: imdb listing

Official site

Our Starbucks cards

I recently discovered that you can create custom pre-paid cards by mixing and matching some illustration elements in the Starbucks website. Here are two cards that I assembled, one for Todd, and one for myself above.  I wish... I could put both of us in the same card with my pups... just like this below... : )

Pictsweet 'Pictopia' Pitch materials

This is a pitch material (spec work) for Pictsweet's Steamables product.

Disney's 'Toy Story Musical' 2008

I worked as a video artist on Disney's "Toy Story-The Musical", theatrical musical show that had its debut in Disney's Cruise Line in Florida, back in 2008 Spring. 

I went on cruise for rehearsal, but haven't actually seen the final show yet. I was told that the show has been so successful and  will also launch in Disneyland. Yeah!

You can see the show video footage via youtube. (link to part 1 out of total 7 parts)

It is not probably as exciting as what you can experience in the theatre, but hopefully I get to see the real show soon in LA.

The set was amazing: many shots were based on toys' point of view, so all objects in the room are in gigantic scale... I had a lot of fun looking at the set and how things are integrated among each others as well as with actors/actresses.

Video was used in two projection screens: front & rear.

It is used as set backdrop images, for camera panning in scenery changes, and transitions among shots...

Video animation production was done in Duck studio.

3D artist created elements that match the art direction of the original Toy Story movie, and video was composited in After Effects for the set to be integrated with actors and stage props.

It was very fun to see how flat video images on two layers of screen can create so much depth on the stage.

The making of Toy Story-The Musical

Disney's Safety Smart 'At Home' 2008

I have worked on Disney's educational animation 'Timon and Pumbaa's Safety Smart' series. The first episode is 'At Home' 11 minute animation featuring Timon and Pumbaa from Disney's Lion King feature. My official credit is Art Director. I also animated Timon & Pumbaa in the title sequence and several shots during the movie, designed props, created layout drawings and painted backgrounds, as well as composited shots in After Effects.

I art directed the second spot, 'Goes Green' as well, which was complete at the end of 2008, and am currently working on the third episode 'At Water'.

Credits:

Production: Disney Educational Productions

Animation production: Duck Studio

Director: Dave Bossert

Animation Director: Andrew Austin

Art Director: Soyeon Kim, Dee Farnworth

Technical Director: Todd Hemker

Full credits

imdb listing

official site

Explorer's Guild by Kevin Costner

I worked on an animation project, 'Explorer's Guild', produced by kevin Costner, created by Jon Baird, Chris Baird, & Keith Quinn, and animation production by Chiodo Bros.

Plot: Animated Internet series centers on a group of glove-trotting Victorian-era explorers and their Gothic adventurers.

The episodes haven't been officially released yet as of 2009 spring, so I cannot reveal much information... Hopefully the project gets to find the right home for its release sometime soon.

I art directed the opening 'Dream' sequence, as well as creating some production designs, animating characters and compositing shots for the project.

imdb full credits

Full Variety article

Minnesota University System 'Make It Happen' 2007

A 30 second animation PSA for Minnesota University System, produced by studio Make Visual in Minnesota.

I worked as designer, animator, and After Effect compositor with Dean Lindberg, Aaron Quist, Tony Christopherson, Jessica Grimshaw and Danny Robashkin.

Design elements for the 'Burger King'

Here are some design elements for the interactive website for kids on 'Burger King' website.  I had one hour to cook something up. Assigned elements were... boy, dress, sheep...

Chicago Safe Start 'Clingy' 2007

Here are some style samples for the pitch on the 'Chicago Safe Start' PSA campaign.

Chicago Safe Start PSA 'Clingy' sketches

Here are some sketches for the character & concept development

Chicago Safe Start 'Lump' 2006

Here are design samples that I made for the Chicago Safe Start PSA campaign.

Here are some idea sketches that I had for the spot.

Interview with Asian American Press

My interview with Tom LaVenture, the editor of Asian American Press on January 19, 2007.

Article Title: Soyeon Kim honored for animation work

Ritz (spec) 2005

I made character designs for Ritz cracker campaign and Todd built the style frames using them.

I also animated girls. Todd designed a boy on a bike and animated him as well.

Credits:

Director: Bruce McFarlan

Designers: Soyeon Kim & Todd Hemker

Animators: Morgan Williams, Todd Hemker & Soyeon Kim

Digital Ink & Paint: Thom Waters

Production Studio: Reelworks

Plato's Closet Campaign 2004

Here are some design samples for the 3 animated commercial campaign for the 'Plato's Closet'

I was art director/designer as well as animator for the campaign.

The spots were directed by Morgan Williams & Bruce McFarlan at Reelworks studio.

'Limo'

'Couch'

Some additional designs from the style exploration

Article in Digitalcontentproducer.com

Article in Creatie Mac (August 05, 2004)

The artists at Reelworks are also animating commercial projects having recently finished a three-spot campaign for Plato's Closet, a recycling retail store for teens and young adults, via ad agency Periscope.

Highlighting the tagline You have the clothes. We have the cash, the :30 spots feature fashionable young adults in various situations that somehow come upon a pile of cash. In 'Limo', a teen girl walking on the street is thrown a heap of cash from a passing limo. The vibrant spot concludes with motion graphics and real product shots of the diverse brand name clothing available at Plato's Closet. The other two spots follow a similar premise, emphasizing the idea that the store pays for the best spring and summer fashions. 'Couch' opens on a young man listening to music while lying on a couch. A big bag of money suddenly flies through the open window and lands on his lap. In 'Nudge', a love-struck couple strolls along and smiles at each other. The girl nudges her boyfriend who accidentally bumps into a fire escape and is rained upon by a mountain of money.

According to Reelworks Designer/Art Director Soyeon Kim, it was important to study the tastes and style preferences of the target audience. To prepare for the project, Kim researched teen publications to use as reference for the character and wardrobe design.

The goal was to appeal to teen buyers so we created characters that were more realistic in appearance and mannerisms and weren't cartoon-like, remarks Soyeon Kim. This was a really fun and unique project. The first :15 involves character animation and the second is motion graphics so you get to see two different designs and approaches in the same spot. We had a smooth collaboration with the agency creatives and we worked closely to make sure we had the right style and look.

Plato's Closet Credits:

Client: Plato's Closet

Spot Titles/Airdates: 'Limo' :30/August 2004,   'Couch' :30/August 2004,   'Nudge' :30/August 2004

Advertising Agency: Periscope/Minneapolis, MN

Producer: Jennifer Helm

Art Director: Anne Taylor

Copywriter: Nancy Mandela

Animation & Production Company: Reelworks Animation/Minneapolis, MN

Director: Bruce McFarlan

Art Director: Soyeon Kim

Animators: Morgan Williams, Soyeon Kim, Todd Hemker, Aaron Brudvig

Digital Ink and Paint: Thom Waters

Executive Producer: Audrey Robinson Favorito

Producer: Neha Upadhyaya Lang

Editor: Morgan Williams

Postproduction Company: Pixel Farm/Minneapolis, MN

Online Editor: Tom Jacobsen @ Pixel Farm

Music, Audio Post and Sound Design Company: Hest & Kramer/Minneapolis, MN

Creative Director: Steve Kramer

Associate Creative Director/Head of Production/Mixer: Jim Weber

Composer/Arranger/Sound Designer: Dan Solovitz

Executive Producer: Bob Hest