The Mill LA teamed up with Saatchi & Saatchi and Smuggler to create something new and unexpected for this electric new Toyota 'Avalon' spot directed by Stylewar.
The team began by conducting dangerous electricity research that involved high voltage coils and plasma globes. This footage was recorded and referred to by the team to enable them to capture the subtleties of this powerful force of nature.
Robert Sethi, Mill LA's creative director explains, "Lightning and electricity has a tendency to feel scary and dangerous. For the spot, we needed it to feel beautiful and perceived as a powerful constructive force."
A unique aspect of the spot is the interactive nature of the lightning itself and the sparks which can be seen to be emitted from the molten edges. Both the electrical pylons and the car had to be created in CG in order to capture the light emissions from these elements. "We felt that in order to achieve the visual impact we wanted, we would have to include smoke, sparks, molten edges, and some fireworks to top it all off." says Josh Hatton, Mill LA's CG Supervisor.
"It was awesome to get back and work with Saatchi & Saatchi and Stylewar again and create a spot where we created a car in a new way," said Sethi. "We wanted to keep the poetic feeling as established in the previous Toyota spot 'Formula', but create something a little more energetic."
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Producer: Margeret Nickerson, Jessica Pugh
Creative Director: John Payne
Creatives:ACD Copywriter: Matthew Poitras,
ACD Art Director: Jera Mehrdad, Art Director: Max Wang
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Stylewar
Executive Producer: Brian Carmody, Lisa Rich, Allison Kunzman
Director of Photography: Joost Van Gelder
Line Producer: Youree Henley
Editing Company: Whitehouse
Editor: EP: Joni Williamson
Sr. Producer: Joanna Manning
Editor: Russell Icke
Edit Assist: Zach Vlandik
VFX & Design: Mill LA
Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
VFX Producer: Rachael Trillo
Shoot Supervisor: Robert Sethi
Creative Director: Robert Sethi
2D Lead Artists: Nuke: Eugene Gauran, Ed Laag
Flame: Chris Knight
3D Lead Artists: Josh Hatton
3D Artists: Matt Bohnert, Gregory Gangemi, Yorie Kumalasari, Meng Lang Lu, Felix Urquiza, Adam Carroll