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
Goldcrest Post Speeds Delivery of “Severance” Season Two
The New York Times recently wrote that the just-released Season Two of Severance will “blow your mind”—and we couldn’t agree more. Created by Dan Erickson and Ben Stiller, the Apple TV+ drama is smart, spellbinding, distinctly original and packed with surprises. For those who aren’t already devoted fans, the show centers on Mark Scout (Adam Scott), leader of a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a “severance” procedure that surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. Goldcrest Post provided post services for both seasons of the show, including picture editorial support, sound editorial, ADR and sound mixing. Editorial for Season One began in 2020. Due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, Goldcrest supplied both onsite production offices and edit suites, and remote editing systems for individual editors, with everything linked to a central server. "Mixing at Goldcrest with our team has been a great experience,” says Stiller. “Bob and Jacob are in sync with our creative process and so good at what they do that the experience is always one where it's about how we can enhance the creative vision, with a baseline of knowing everyone is totally committed to making something as good as it can be." Diana Dekajlo, the show’s co-producer, says that the arrangement worked so well, they chose to continue the hybrid approach for Season Two. “We’re a remote friendly show,” she explains. “Whether we’re at Goldcrest, our studio in the Bronx or at home, our workflow is seamless. I conduct remote daily meetings with my immediate staff, and weekly meetings with editorial and VFX, and we talk to each other as if we were just down the hall. It makes for great staff... Read More