Just breaking this past weekend, the new Acura RDX spot, WALL ART, produced by RPA, reveals the turbocharged crossover SUV's city prowess -- darting through alleys, ducking around corners, navigating the urban landscape.
In fact, it's the landscape that really sets this spot apart. Enlisting the director duo of Chris Hopewell and Ben Foley of Collision Films (previous work includes music videos for Radiohead and Franz Ferdinand), this RDX commercial uses stop-frame animation techniques while plugging into the street art phenomenon. Famed Bristol, U.K.-based street artist Sainty (Henry St Leger), along with a team of 17 graffiti artists and painters, brought this idea to life on a massive 100-foot by 40-foot wall. All art was done by artists, not CGI.
WALL ART opens with an RDX parked in front of a blank wall. This same wall is painted and repainted with cityscape scenes, hundreds and hundreds of times, to animate the background behind the vehicle. The 10-day shoot for WALL ART used more than 450 gallons of paint and 500 cans of spray paint, resulting in more than 400 layers of paint on the wall.
The spot instills a sense of artistry and upscale sophistication in the brand. Featuring a combination of large-scale street art and stop-frame animation, the commercial literally illustrates that the RDX is equipped for anything the city can create. The spot broke during the AFC Championship game on CBS and will continue to run on sports and programming such as 24, CRIMINAL MINDS and THE MENTALIST.
Elias Arts composer Kenny Segal created the music track behind the WALL ART spot. Calling the music a "new-school funk track", he said. "We wanted to build a piece that had a cool, re-mixy flavor to it, but at the same time we wanted the feel of having live musicians playing together in the room. We didn't want a contrived 'ad-funk' track, but instead to present talented musicians jamming together. Initially guitarist Ryan Crosby and I came up with the basic groove over the drum track I laid down, and we then added acoustic bass and a great keyboard/organ player. The track was built, layer by layer, through our creative editing process, incorporating the best moments of each player's performance. Once we had the piece almost completed, we brought these guys back into the studio again for some more jamming on top, as 'icing on the cake.'"
The WALL ART commercial, an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of WALL ART and photos from the shoot, are all available at www.rpa.com/rdxwallart.
Credits:
RPA:Chief Creative Officer: David SmithCreative Director: John HageSenior Art Directors: Dan Buchmeier, Phillip SquierCopywriter: Jeff MullenAgency Executive Producer: Jack EpsteenAgency Senior Producer: Carolyn Casey
Production Co: Epoch FilmsExecutive Producer: Jerry SolomonLine Producer: Pat HarrisDirectors: Ben Foley/Chris Hopewell (Collision Films)Cameraman: Daniel Kutner
Music Company: Elias ArtsComposer: Kenny SegalSound Designer: Dean HoveyElias Creative Director: Dave GoldElias Executive CD: Jonathan EliasElias Executive Prod: Ann Haugen
Visual Effects Company: Moving Pictures CompanyMPC Exec Producer: Mark TobinVisual Effects Artist: Adam FrazierVisual FX Producer: Allyson NevilOffline Editor: Wendy Sandoval
Sound Mix Company: RavensworkSound Mixer: Robert Feist
Telecine Company: Moving Pictures CompanyColorist: Mark Gethin
