The Mill had the pleasure of collaborating with Noam Murro from Biscuit and the team at Deutsch to create this cinematic, suspenseful and humorous spot for VW.
The Mill's compositing and matte painting team were tasked with turning two sunny shoot days into a winter wonderland of snow covered roads and landscapes.
Director:
Noam Murro
Production Company:
Biscuit
Agency:
Deutsch
"For most commercials that require some addition of snow in the background we take a minimal approach and just patch in some small areas," explained 3D Lead Artist Gawain Liddiard, "however on the VW mask we went all out with a full-on winter wonderland of snowy vistas. This posed a particular challenge in the driving shots as there was so much camera movement while we covered a wide range of landscape. Furthermore, there were practically no snow effects in these plates as it was impossible for the crew to lay down artificial snow on such a long stretch of highway. Because of this, we decided to completely deconstruct the plate and rebuild our own snow drenched world using as many as 40 layers of projected matte paintings to build up a rich and believable image."
Such extravagant re-working of the background required the team to also treat the car and the road to match the newly designed snow. "Using 3D renders, we created matte painted snowy landscapes to accurately match the side panel of the VW Beetle and layered rendered patches of water across the road to create a subtle wet-down effect to tie everything together," explains Gawain. "Through this extensive work a vast amount of the final image is VFX work, yet it still respects the feel of the original plate, and more importantly the product."
With a cold and natural look set by The Mill's talented telecine artist, Adam Scott, VW demonstrates the irrelevance of seasons when you're riding in the beautiful new Beetle Convertible.
Agency: Deutsch
Producer: Jim Haight
Creative Director: Michael Kadin, Matt Ian
Creatives: Paul Oberlin
Account Director: Monica Jungbek
Production Company: Biscuit
Record Company: Marshall & Rodgers: Paul Marshall
Director: Noam Murro
Executive Producer: Colleen O’Donnell
Producer: Jay Veal
Director of Photography: Simon Duggan
Editing Company: SpotWelders
Editor: J. Patrick McElroy
VFX & Design: The Mill
Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
VFX Producer: Gabriel Libitsky
Shoot Supervisors: James Allem, Gawain Liddiard
2D Lead Artist: James Allen
3D Lead Artist: Gawain Liddiard
2D Artists: Nick Tayler, Bill Higgins, Joy Tiernan, Margolit Stiener
3D Artists: Blake Sullivan, Martin Rivera
Matte Painting: Justin Wentz, Jason Dunn
Art Department: Scott Wilson, Kevin Flores