Crow TV spot

I finally got a chance to check out Maya after getting it installed and functioning on my computer. I took an animation class in high school that used 3DS Max, a very similar program also made by Autodesk, so the layout of Maya looks somewhat familiar. It seems pretty obvious that during this semester we will only scratch the surface of Maya's capabilities, but I am excited to have a basic knowledge of it once we're done.

Since our first class, I have been trying to keep an eye out for things I see on TV and in movies that could have potentially been done with Maya. We saw how Maya is used for movie pre-visualization like in War of the Worlds, but I feel like I am often oblivious to how often it is potentially used in other common things like film effects, cartoons, commercials, and TV graphics.

I discovered a new channel that I didn't know I got at my house called Palladium. They show live music almost 24/7, and have recently been showing a lot of footage from the Oxegen festival and the Glastonbury festival. Anyway, I happened to see a 30 or 60 second spot for the Palladium channel that really grabbed my attention. It involves black crows flying on a white background, with tree branches evolving, growing, and disappearing. A giant flock of crows eventually turns into one giant, greatly detailed crow, who flies away to reveal the Palladium logo. The art design and detail are very impressive. I imagine that this spot was mostly created with Maya, or a program very similar to it.

Check it out-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL7KqMkoces