By Rodney Appleyard
Check out the cool new Virgin Blue TVC, which features very stylish and eye catching animation created by Resolution Design.
Click here to view it.
We talked to producer, Will Alexander, director, Tim Dyroff and head of 3d, Max McMullin, who all work for Resolution, about how they created the animation and VFX for this production called: "Imagine."
SM: What was the brief?
Will: We were told to use a combination of animation and live action to bring a highly original script (written by David “Nobby” Nobay, the creative chairman at Droga5) to life quickly (we only had 4 weeks)!
SM: How did you get involved with the TVC?
Will: We had done some innovative work for the agency producer Paul Johnson before and he got us involved in the pitch. We pitched against three other companies and our presentation got their attention.
SM: In detail, what effects did you create for the TVC?
Tim: We modeled the new business class seat from previz illustration, made a gold throne from scratch, built and textured balloon clouds, modeled the business class bar, diamond encrusted gold headphones and entertainment console, and illustrated and animated the red herring and reeds using graffiti artist Mr Perso and Cinema 4d for animation.
Max: The airline seat section of the advert was modeled, textured and lit in Maya. Although the 3d model of the new business class seat had already been made for Virgin Airlines for manufacturing and marketing purposes, it was not made available to us to use for the commercial (due to the respective companies having copyright over the model), so we had to build it from scratch using marketing material and photos taken at the factory.
We based the gold throne on an antique baroque gilt throne, which we found on the Internet. The chrome balloon clouds were initially based on clouds found in renaissance paintings. The business class bar was sourced from the original CAD model, which was supplied by the company who designed it.
Resolution also modeled the diamond encrusted gold headphones and entertainment console with angle wings.
SM: How did you create these?
Will: The creation was a mix of 2d and 3d to bring the environments to life and on top of that we also produced the live action shoot of the people that would appear in the commercial that were later tracked in with Bijoiu.
SM: How difficult was it to create these effects?
Will: There was a lot of artistry involved and getting the tonal quality of everything consistent took a fair bit of trial and error. In the end we would have loved more time as a fair amount of late nights and weekend work went into finessing the job, but we were all very satisfied with the final result
SM: How did you overcome the difficulty in creating these?
Will: We put together a very dynamic team of designers, illustrators, compositors and 3d artists who all basically worked around the clock to meet the incredibly tight deadline.
SM: Were any groundbreaking techniques applied?
Will: I think the look of the spot is groundbreaking. There is so much that can be done with the existing technology and software. The terrain that has been created is so vast that I think designers can be exploring the possibilities for years to come
SM: How satisfied are you with the results?
Will: Very. It is really a tribute to the team at Resolution and the way we work and the creative language we have that make jobs like this possible.
SM: How much did you enjoy being a part of this project?
Will: To be able to collaborate with Droga5’s creative team of Nobby, Matty Burton and Cam Blakely and agency producer PJ was an amazing experience. It was a very challenging and exciting brief and we look forward to the next one.
SM: How satisfied was the client?
Will: Droga5’s creative chairman David Nobay says: "The new V Australia campaign is all about imagination and trying to get a bit of magic back into the international travel scene, so animation seemed like an obvious route for us. Plus it really cuts through when done well. We’re looking forward to working with animators and artists from around the world to continue the campaign, but I’d say that Tim and the lads from Resolution have started us off with a pretty high bar artistically."
SM: What do you think the audience will like about it?
Will: It is totally out there in terms of airline advertising. I think it will really work for them as it is a very different way to present a new idea to the Australian audience and i can imagine it really standing out on air. I hope that people watch it again and again on air and see something new each time.
SM: Which channel is it be played on?
Will: The TVC launched during the 7 Network’s Olympic coverage and will be rolled out to all free to air and pay tv networks.
SM: How different is the TVC?
Will: You be the judge, I think there is not much like it around.
SM: How different are the effects?
Will: It’s an original piece of work We looked at a few animated references when we started but we have created a unique looking work.
SM: Anything else interesting of note to add?
Will: We cannot make these ads without our clients, and the agency and V Australia really trusted us and collaborated with us as we pulled this project together. I think it is very hard in the early stages of jobs like this for our clients to look at test animations and renderings and not worry. There needs to be some experienced folk at the helm so that things don’t go off the rails. We certainly got this from Droga5 and the folk at V Australia and that was a big big plus!
Credits:
Director Tim Dyroff
Producer Will Alexander
Production Manager Alison Kennedy
Production Assistant Tina Nolimaio
2D
Designer/Compositor Lisha Tan
Designer/Compositor Victor Norman
Designer/Compositor Jamie Watson
Illustrator Mr Perso
3D
Head of 3D Max McMullin
3D Artist Tom Corbett
3D Artist Ash Nagy
3D Artist James Dunlop
3D Artist Tilney Taylor
Editor Simon Njoo @ Guillotine
DOP Hugh Miller
Sound design Simon Listor @ Nylon
Agency Producer Paul Johnston
Agency Creatives David “Nobby” Nobay
Cam Blackley
Matt Burton