Seamless visual effects take center stage in the new Mountain Dew spot, “Change/Car,” out of BBDO New York, and directed by Traktor of bicoastal/international Partizan with effects by Method, Santa Monica. “Change/Car,” part of a new package of ads that have the feel of videogames, opens on two guys at a Mountain Dew vending machine. One guy buys a Dew while telling his friend that he and his girlfriend are taking a break, not breaking up.
As the pair walks back to the car, the guy without the Dew expresses disbelief that his friend even bothers to lock his car–an old junker that no self-respecting car thief would touch. The guy presses the button on his key chain that should unlock the car’s doors–instead, the car transforms, becoming a much better looking ride; he presses his key chain again, and the car once again transforms. He does this a few more times–the cars shifting to include a monster truck and a Shriner in a pint-sized convertible. Eventually, he lands on one he likes–a gold-colored pick-up truck. As his friend walks towards the new ride, the guy with the key chain presses the button, causing his buddy’s hair to grow longer, he hits the keys once more, and the guy grows breasts. A few more, and the young man is transformed into an attractive woman. Once the key chain has transformed the woman’s Styrofoam cup into a bottle of Mountain Dew, the two prepare to drive off together.
Brian Donovan, associate creative director/copywriter on the spot, relates that the latest round of Mountain Dew ads–which in addition to “Change/Car” also includes the Traktor-directed “Let’s Play”–has a video game feel. This is how the key chain changer, which is meant to mimic how one can easily switch the cars in racing games, came into being.
“I think it was pretty obvious we were going to have to do visual effects,” notes Mike Boulia, associate creative director/art director at BBDO. “To what extent though, we weren’t sure, but we were going to have to use something.”
EFFECTS WORK
Enter Method, which has a long history of collaborating with BBDO on Mountain Dew, including last year’s “Spy Vs. Spy” series of spots, also helmed by Traktor.
Hyatt Choate, executive producer at the agency, explains that two shoots were going on simultaneously. One captured the in-camera portion of the spot. The other was to capture images of the cars that would allow Method to create 3-D models of the automobiles that could blow apart and come back together, as they do in the finished ad. Choate notes that the goal was to make the spot look as real and seamless as possible. “With Mountain Dew, we always stress to keep the effects very organic and real, and not get too computer generated [looking],” says Choate “That way there will be a believability factor there so that people will go, ‘Oh wow, that’s neat,’ not ‘how did they do that?’ “
Method was brought into the process early on, collaborating with Traktor to make sure the shoot and effects came together smoothly. Alex Frish served as visual effects supervisor at Method, and along with Gil Baron, went to the “Change” shoot. Frisch related that he and his team were involved early on in the process, doing extensive pre-visualization with the agency and the Traktor team prior to the shoot. To create the spot’s look, the Method artisans used Maya, Boujous 3-D, Flame and Inferno. To achieve the appearance of the man transforming into a woman, Frisch noted that it involved both practical effects as well as some greenscreen work.
Additional credits at Method go to: Neysa Horsburgh, visual effects executive producer; Sue Troyan, visual effects producer; visual effects artists Joan Cruz and Alex Kolasinski; Hatem Benabdallah, lead 3-D artist; Eric Ebling, Pasha Ivanov, Chris Smallfield, and Chris Strauss, 3-D artists; Laurent Ledru, CG creative director; Gil Baron, CG technical supervisor; Zach Lo and Kyle Obley, visual effects junior artists.
Agency credit goes to David Lubars, chief creative officer; Bill Bruce, executive creative director; Melissa Everett, assistant producer and Loren Parkins, executive music producer.