A man approaches a single, compact, leather, car seat set on a podium in an open symphony hall. Without hesitation, he begins to unfold the seat. From inside the seat of the first, another is revealed, then several more. The man effortlessly pulls out another row like a drawer, then lifts a large car frame from the floor. The gestures are quick and elegant, made with same finesse as a painter.
Details are carefully discovered, giving just a sense of the Ford C-Max shape. The spokes of the hubcaps each open from a semicircle, and the headlights are instigated by a slight push-in, before popping out and turning on. A steering wheel unfolds from an impossibly compact opening in the dash, and the Ford C-Max is complete.
The Ford C-Max spot, directed by 1stAveMachine‘s Asif Mian for Ogilvy U.K., is the most recent of several projects that 1stAveMachine, N.Y., and Stink, London, have completed together since their European partnership was solidified just last year.
The ambitious practical shoot was done in Prague, where Mian, who has a background in sculpture, worked with fabricators and welders to customize each unfolding car prop. The indistinguishable line between practical effects and CG has in large part to do with the effort to stay within the laws of the real world. During the conception stage, even Mian and his team were amazed by how far they could push the practical effects. “I knew that I wanted every movement to be based in real physics. Once we committed ourselves to that limitation, we really opened the possibilities to a world of advanced rig design.”
The design process was aided by creating a 3D previs with realistic movements of each before anything was built. “It was so important for the art department to have the previs. It laid out exactly how everything should move kinetically. In drawings, this is so much more difficult to show.”
Photorealistic CG was deployed as a way to enhance the practical effects and to embellish on some of the more complex movements. While some might choose to do entire scenes in CG, Mian had a strategy for how to determine exactly what would be done practically from the beginning. “We decided that anywhere the actor had an interaction with the car, it had to be done practically. I don’t like the idea of making an actor pantomime, so we built props for him to handle and used CG to bring it to another level.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More