Once the most feared predator on the planet, T-Rex, has been reduced to a laughing stock thanks to an embarrassing Internet film, plunging him into a crippling identity crisis. That is until a chance encounter with Audi’s piloted driving revives his lust for life and allows T-Rex to celebrate a comeback.
Stephan Wever of Stink directed this film, titled “#TheComeback,” with VFX from Sehsucht Hamburg, for agency Razorfish Germany.
Florian Zachau, head of VFX at Sehsucht, said that in terms of the animation, “The biggest challenge was to make the dinosaur look depressed. A T-Rex is a rather stiff character and there is not a lot of variety on expression and gestures the animators could use in order to bring out the sadness. The interview-scene in particular was not easy. There is a very thin line between making it look natural rather than awkward. “
#TheComeback is up and running on Audi’s social platforms and is part of a viral campaign to announce Audi’s new piloted driving system.
Credits
Client Audi AG: Falco Munch Agency Razorfish Germany Preethi Mariappan, executive creative director; Felix Stock, creative director/copywriter; Anna Dressler, Fay Kornmeier, copywriters; Kathrin Dariz, strategy director. Production Stink film, Berlin Stephan Wever, director; Cezary Zacharewicz, DP Martina Lulsdorf, Julian Holland, exec producers; Isabel Kast, producer. Concept & Design Sehsucht Hamburg, Stink VFX/Postproduction Sehsucht Hamburg Daniel Jahnel, Timo von Vittken, Ulf Gieseler, Jannes Kreyenberg, Jakob Schulze-Rohr, 3D; Martin Chatterchee, rigging; Florian Zachau, Jona Maluk, compositing; Jan Tiller, Stephan Reinsch, Felix Niehoff, producers. (Toolbox: Zbrush, Mari, Softimage, Arnold, Houdini, Nuke) Stink, inhouse, editor. Color Grading Electric theatre Music Meik de Swaan, composer. Sound FX & Mix Hesse Studios Berlin Lukas Walter, mixing engineer
How do you top one of the most viral brand videos ever made? Spoiler alert: you canโt. But when Dollar Shave Club tapped Zack Seckler to direct a new campaign to revive the absurdist humor of its iconic launch video, he knew he had a rare opportunity to create something special.
The brief was simple: introduce the concept of a physical โClubโ that people would love to join while showcasing Dollar Shave Clubโs products and embracing the weird. From script to direction and post, Seckler--an alum of SHOOTโs 2021 New Directors Showcase--was invited to help sculpt that vision.
The result is this โWelcome to the Clubโ spot which invites us to join a unique, seemingly exclusive but in reality an accessible and affordable fraternity of Dollar Shave Club members. But you need to know the password or more accurately, the two-word phrase--"shave money."
โThe Clubโ campaign brings the brand back to its humorous roots, reflecting a new chapter after being acquired by Nexus Capital Management from Unilever in late 2023. The work takes Dollar Shave Club back to its disruptive beginnings and what made the brand a viral sensation from its inception in 2011.
