Method Studios, a subsidiary of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc., the leading provider of a broad range of entertainment industry services and technologies to the worldwide entertainment industry, has completed work on a follow up to last year’s award-winning Kia “Share Some Soul” campaign. Working again in collaboration with advertising agency David &; Goliath, Method enlisted its team of CG character specialists to re-introduce the iconic Kia Hamsters to the advertising world.nnThis year’s spot finds the hamsters winning over the audience of a Victorian-era opera house with their trademark style and attitude. “Bringing Down the House” began production in Prague, Czech Republic in June of 2012 under the guidance of production company MJZ and director Carl Rinsch. Method VFX Supervisor Andy Boyd, VFX Producer Mike Wigart and Tracking/Integration Supervisor Fabio Zapata were on hand to oversee the busy five-day shoot, which consisted of five professional dancers in hamster suits, a stunt hamster, and 200+ fully costumed extras. On set VFX supervision required extensive data wrangling, a B-unit set up for crowd duplication, and a lot of creative decision making with Rinsch and director of photography John Mathieson. Says Boyd, “I was a fan of Carl’s work before the shoot, so it was exciting to revisit our hamster characters with his collaboration. Mathieson is a master cinematographer and he gave us a great framework to light our hamsters.” n nWhile production was underway in Prague, Method LA’s CG team built upon the hamster setup created for “Share Some Soul” and advanced it using the latest state-of-the-art fur rendering techniques. According to Boyd, “The lighting in this spot is so much more complex and specific. We had to advance our fur rendering techniques to new levels.” Lighting Lead Brian Burke adds, “We added a physically-based translucency model which gave the fur greater volumetric qualities.” He continues, “We also wanted to make eyes more expressive, so instead of rendering black spheres we modeled lenses and irises for each character. It brought them more life.” nnMethod Head of 2D Patrick Ferguson led a team of Nuke artists to integrate the CG hamster renders into the practical dancer’s bodies, creating a seamless blend of CG and costuming. “We took the character integration a step further this year by modeling clothing geometry that was match moved to the dancers so that light play and shadows felt more physical,” says Ferguson. “We also created a special gradient pass that enabled us to pick any area of fine hair on the neck and layer it on top of the collars. This approach went a long way in terms of adding realism to these characters.” nnMethod Studios linked in through its seamless pipeline with sister facility Company 3 to allow Company 3 co-founder/colorist Stefan Sonnenfeld to perform the color grading for the spot as he had on the previous campaign. nnADWEEK recently cited last year’s “Share Some Soul” spot as one of the top twenty most-watched advertisements in YouTube history; Method and David & Goliath hope to continue its massive popularity with this new installment of inspired hamster lunacy. “People love the Kia hamsters. And we love working with them,” adds VFX Producer Mike Wigart, “we’re still waiting for our friends at D&G to pitch us the movie.”nn
nnGail Laguna Director of Marketing & Public Relations Deluxe Entertainment Services Group 323.960.7372 Contact Gail via email
Who Needs Los Angeles? We Do.
One doesn't have to be a statistician to know that there are fewer commercials being shot in the U.S. today for the American market than ever before, and a dramatic decrease in L.A. in particular. In the last five years, as reported by FilmLA (the office tasked with issuing permits), L.A. commercial production has dipped 31 percent. But here’s the thing: This doesn’t mean that L.A. has lost its importance as the production center of the world. Production in L.A. is vital. It is the go-to. It’s where you can count on access to exemplary crews, a support infrastructure second to none, varied location and backlot options, a large population of on-screen talent and (fairly) predictable weather. The fact is, with overall decline and now the devastation of the fires, we’re on the brink of losing this mainstay resource. Without employment opportunities and now many without homes, talented and trained crew are bound to leave either the industry or the LA area for other opportunities, unless there are enough job opportunities to sustain a solid living. Now is the time when we ALL must support and bolster this community. Production is needed in L.A., now! Of course, advertising is a business, and marketers’ money should be spent as efficiently as possible, BUT we have to think beyond each production and know that if we lose the incredible resource of L.A. production as we know it, then marketers, agencies and the industry loses in the long run. Over the past several days, some agencies have issued directives to production companies that are unilaterally pushing upcoming production options out of L.A. The fact is L.A. is a large area, and many sections of the city and county are not directly impacted... Read More