After the successful collaboration of "Coal," "Orange," and "Wood," the three earlier spots we worked on with DDB Chicago and Emerson we were delighted to be back on board for their next big campaign.
Bowe King, The Mill's Co-Director on Emerson explains: "The first time we spoke with DDB about their idea for the spots they asked us, 'Do you think this is possible and if so, how?'"
Director:
Bowe King and Rob Petrie
Production:
The Mill
Agency:
DDB Chicago
This was a great opportunity for us to flex our CG and compositing muscles. The team had some really strong ideas about where to go with DDB's original sketches as well as feeding in to and changing the story. "We wanted to try different options and see what would happen. We knew our key players were a Kangaroo and a Wolf, so we explored how their stories could be told. Especially with the Wolf as we wanted to see what story made the most sense and what kind of journey the wolf should go on. Working with storyboard sketches we began to find images that created the most drama to the campaign," says King.
In tandem with story and storyboard sketches, the design team came up with stoic and evocative images for each spot. In the initial style development phase, the idea was to make ensure they incorporated the brand while also pushing the brand image forward. Our design team and directors made beautiful style frames that got everyone really excited and were invaluable tools throughout the entire process.
The biggest challenge on the job was to bring everything to life as the entire spot would be fully CG. "We couldn't just go to the Arctic and shoot back plates to composite onto," explains Rob Petrie, the co-director.
The focus for R&D was the generation and grooming of the wolf's hair. After extensive research, the team discovered that there are roughly 14-16 different types of hair on a wolf. "XSI was used for the grooming and then an ICE compound called Melena allowed the hair to naturally blow in the wind. It also enabled us to render a huge amount of hair," Petrie says.
Everyone is delighted with the final result and the process was one of considerable collaboration and communication among The Mill, DDB Chicago and Emerson.
Agency: DDB Chicago
Producer: Brigette Whisnant
Creative Director: Marcia Iacobucci
Creatives: Gary Matusek, Jeff Loibl
Production: The Mill
Directors: Bowe King, Rob Petrie
Editing: The Mill
Editor: Ryan McKenna
VFX & Design: The Mill
VFX Producer: Rachel Stones
Creative Director: Gavin Wellsman
2D Lead Artist: Gigi Ng
2D Artist: Erin Nash
3D Artists: Kevin Ives, Alex Allain, Sauce Vilas, Emily Meger, Sandor Toledo, IkerDe Los Mozos, Sam Driscoll, Paul Liaw