Ceri Payne, part of the creative team at The Discovery Channel in the U.K., directed this promo for the new show Fifth Gear featuring the slowed-down reaction shots of people inside and beneath a car jumping from a ramp and going airborn. The :30 is marked by a sense of both awe and fun.
Payne worked closely with The Studio at Smoke and Mirrors, London, to develop the spot. The original idea was to have the 5th Gear team do a surreal car jump in an Audi R8 in a hyper-real contemporary warehouse setting. The car would then travel towards a huge concrete discovery D suspended within this space. But due to time constraints with delivery and shooting schedules, the decision was made to shoot the Fifth Gear team in an Audi R8 on a green screen stage as reference (and for the interior shots of the car). Everything else was created in CG.
The Smoke & Mirrors team initially pre-vised the jump to get the idea of camera heights and angles. The warehouse, car and other elements were all created using Maxon’s Cinema 4D with some texturing created using elements of Bodypaint 3D and the Adobe creative suite. The angles and camera moves were matched to the footage to allow the windows with the talent to be replaced within the 3D scene and then this was composited using Nuke replacing the green screen with the renders from Cinema 4D. The finished piece was then graded using Da Vinci Resolve.
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