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.”
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More