Custom DW Dragon for Olympics

Custom DW Dragon for Olympics

We’ve seen DreamWorks Animation SKG create customized promos for “Shrek” tailored to Wal-Mart stores, but this year the studio has created a barrage of TV spots for the upcoming 3D release “How to Train Your Dragon” that are designed specifically to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Scott Hettrick
Scott Hettrick

Last year about this time during the Super Bowl, viewers were seeing a 90-second block of promos, including a 3D TV spot for “Monsters Vs. Aliens.” The 3D effect was not the best and most viewers only saw a blurry image.

Both were done in partnership with DreamWorks/Paramount and NBC. This year the commercials are even more specific to the Olympics and even more integrated with programming on NBC and sister networks CNBC, MSNBC, USA, including the “Today Show,” as on-air talent from Al Roker to Bob Costas often introduce the commercials for viewers and sometimes comment on them afterwards.

There are seven different spots created especially for NBC and the Olympics featuring characters from the movie opening on March 26, showing the origin of modern Olympics games such as speed skating, ski jumping and snowboarding from mythical “Dragon/Viking” competitions from 1010 instead of 2010, such as bobsledding on a human Viking named Bob.

One of seven TV vignettes created specifically to run in the Winter Olympics programming.
One of seven TV vignettes created specifically to run in the Winter Olympics programming.

Two of them related specifically to the Opening Ceremonies with a torch-lighting gag. They began running Feb. 9, three days before the Olympics and have not run since. The rest, available online, have been running frequently throughout Olympics and NBC programming but will end with the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 28.

CBS latenight host Craig Ferguson narrates the vignettes that were all directed by “Dragon” executive producer Tim Johnson.

In a media release, Chris Sanders, one of the directors of “Dragon,” said “We were inspired by the Nordic-like setting of this year’s Winter Games in Vancouver and tied it to our imagined story of burly Vikings on a desolate island we call ‘Berk’.”

One has to wonder if DreamWorks Animation will soon create a separate department of producers/animators whose only job is to create customized animation for all its movies that connects to whatever TV programming is popular at the time of the movie’s release.