In this Super Bowl commercial for Frito-Lay directed by Tom Kuntz of MJZ for Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the team at Untold Studios created a chorus of singing and breakdancing CGI creatures. From a beat-boxing fox, voiced by Charlie Puth, to a songbird which emerges from the mouth of a crocodile, played by Grammy-winner Megan Thee Stallion, Untold Studios pushed the boundaries for this Big Game ad in which varied creatures discover the captivating flavor of Flamin’ Hot Doritos and Cheetos.
The BAFTA and EMMY-nominated VFX team at Untold, made up of over 45 artists based around the globe, came together to craft the seven characters seen on screen. The entire anatomy of each creature was built from scratch, using state-of-the-art CGI technology over the course of three months.
Credits
Client Frito-Lay Agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners Production MJZ Tom Kuntz, director; Editorial Whitehouse Russell Icke, editor; Joe Carugati, assistant editor; Katrina Kuss, producer; Joanna Manning, exec producer. VFX Untold Studios, London Ben Cronin, creative director; Tom Raynor, VFX supervisor; Alex Kulikov, compositing supervisor; Martino Madeddu, CG supervisor; Tim Van Hussen, animation supervisor; Chloe Dawe, creature supervisor; Mauro Giacomazzo, rigging supervisor; Tomek Zietkiewicz, Sophie Harrison, exec producers. (Toolbox: Maya, ZBrush, Substance, Houdini, Nuke) Color Company 3 Stefan Sonnenfeld, colorist.
Apple’s holiday ad--“Heartstrings,” launched ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities--introduces us to a father with mild-moderate hearing loss. But thanks to the clinical grade Hearing Aid feature on AirPods Pro 2, he can now hear his daughter playing the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young classic “Our House” on her new guitar, just unwrapped on Christmas morning.
The breakthrough ability to hear clearly is all the more impactful in that it comes after we journey with the dad down memory lane as he recalls his daughter’s first guitar, her birthday, her first day of school--though the sound of his flashbacks is muffled. But once he activates the Hearing Aid feature, dad can properly hear his daughter in the present--and with that even the memories can be heard clearly.
“Heartstrings” was directed by Henry-Alex Rubin of production house SMUGGLER for TBWAMedia Arts Lab Los Angeles, with sound design by three-time Oscar winner Paul N.J. Ottoson who helps us experience the father’s hearing loss and then its restoration. (Ottoson won two Oscars for The Hurt Locker--for best sound mixing and best sound mixing--and another for best sound editing for Zero Dark Thirty.) Read More
