Ford Truck and Team Detroit have turned to King And Country’s Director Efrain Montañez, to re-imagine and elevate the famed “Rant” campaign for the debut of their 2011 F150. This new model introduces the EcoBoost technology to their truck line, which was the genesis for the campaign’s makeover.
“We were looking for the work in this campaign to be strikingly different visually, yet absolutely part of the established campaign. First and foremost, we wanted the product footage to feel more gritty and realistic, while also presenting new ways to transition from scene to scene without losing continuity in the visual palette,” remarked Bradley Hensen, Ford Group Creative Director from Team Detroit.
King And Country was up for the challenge and collaborated with Team Detroit extensively, from the pitch process through pre-production, to the shoot, post and delivery.
“We have been combining live action and design driven CG animation in our work for years. This campaign allowed us to develop a strong hyper real look that combined live action photography of the Trucks with CG environments,” said Efrain Montanez, Director for King And Country. “We didn’t want the truck to ever appear CG, so we shot all truck footage using the RED Camera on location to obtain real world reflections. We then were able to re-imagine those practical landscapes in CG and finesse the truck footage into those environments in a way that felt sincere and heroic.”
Both of the spots, “Kiddie Menu” and “Chokehold,” debuted November 6th. In keeping with the original rant campaign, the spots are graphic in nature and are driven by a combination of dynamic type, gritty textural graphics and the relentless hard-hitting “Rant”. In the case of the first spot, “Kiddie Menu” takes place in a rugged desert landscape that is traversed by a series of dramatic hyper-zooms and occasionally interrupted by full screen narrative graphic hooks. The second spot, “Chokehold” takes place in a tough construction environment where the same hyper-zoom technique takes us from set up to set up allowing the truck to show off it’s abilities in action.
For both spots, King And Country provided comprehensive services, including collaborative concepting, live action direction, production, 2D/3D animation, visual effects, and editing, all performed in-house.
To view “Chokehold,” CLICK HERE
To view “Kiddie Menu,” CLICK HERE
“In the last couple of years, including during this campaign, we have expanded our field of client services,” says Executive Producer Jerry Torgerson. “We’re known for animation and design, but in actuality our strength is in shooting and directing live action for animation. We’ve also upped our visual effects department, with the addition of Visual Effects Supervisor Bryant Reif. Even though we went up against other top animation based production companies in our initial pitch, we felt very confident, as the brief fell perfectly into our wheelhouse. It was great to get the nod on this one from Team Detroit.”
Hensen adds, “I think King And Country came through with everything we asked for and then some. Their original proposal was incredibly well thought out, and the final spots bear that out. Their ideas were fresh and strategically sound, and the work is very artful, but not frivolous.”
FORD F150 2011 Campaign Credits
Advertising Agency: Team Detroit, Inc.
Chief Creative Officer: Toby Barlow
Ford Group Creative Director: Bradley Hensen
Truck Group Creative Director: Paul Kirner
Art Director: Paul Zimmerman
Writer: Jac Mansour
Producer: Bob Rashid / Craig Mungons
Account Director: Christian Boe
Prod Company: King And Country
Director: Efrain Montanez
EP: Jerry Torgerson
Head of Production: Drew Neujahr
Line Producer: Gary Kout
DP: Neil Shapiro
Production Designer: Brian Branstetter
Editorial, Design, Animation & VFX: King And Country
Editor: Michael Hackett
Creative Director: Efrain Montanez
Lead Designers: Efrain Montanez, John Hwang
Designers / Storyboards: Steve Pacheco, Bryan Lee, Mike Goubeaux,
Dan Hamilton
Lead Animators / Compositors: Chris Kelley, Marcelo Petrella
Animators/Compositors: Hugo Cordinach, Aaron Knapp, Greg Mitchell, Tom
Kenney, Nick Forshee,
VFX Supervisor & Lead 3D animator: Byrant Reif
Post Producers: Drew Neujahr, Mariko Wilson
3D animator: Cody Smith, Matt Foley, George Longo, Brian Weaver
Modelers: Cody Smith, Alex Reyes, Matt Foley
Roto/Tracking/Stabilizing: King And Country
Telecine: New Hat
Colorist: Beau Leon
Sound Design Co/Music Co: John Garstecki Music & Sound Design
Composer/Sound Designer: John Garstecki
Audio Mix: Sound Lounge
Audio Mixer: Rob Sayers
About KING AND COUNTRY
King And Country is a design based, animation and live action production company, specializing in motion graphics, 2D/3D animation and live action production. Through the compelling union of graphic design, live action filmmaking, animation, visual effects, and other creative content, this unique hybrid company communicates through visual storytelling, working on behalf of a diverse array of clients. These have included Blackberry, Buick, Crystal Geyser, Discover Card, Ford, FOX Sports, Kellogg’s, U.S. Cellular, and Sirius Satellite Radio, to name a few. King And Country also has the ability to provide its clients with full service post production and A-list editors. King And Country is located at: 1808 Stanford Street, Santa Monica, CA, 90404. Phone is 310-586-0100. Visit KINGANDCOUNTRY.TV website or FACEBOOK Page.
About TEAM DETROIT
Team Detroit, headquartered in Dearborn, Mich., brings together five of WPP’s largest marketing and communications agencies in one central location to provide its clients access to best practices and talent for all necessary marketing and communications services. Team Detroit is the 21st century equivalent of the full-service agency, acting as a portal to provide a single point of contact and accountability. For more information, please visit www.teamdetroit.com.