A pink washing machine drops from the sky, heralding a new way to get clothes clean in a clever 30-second television spot produced by Click 3x for SPRAY 'n WASH and Euro RSCG MVBMS Partners, New York. The spot, combining computer animation and digital photography, promotes new SPRAY 'n WASH In-Wash Laundry Stain Remover, known as SPRAY 'n WASH Pink.
Titled WE'RE TOUGHER, the spot opens on a front-loading washing machine sitting in a grassy meadow. Suddenly, an otherwise identical pink machine falls from the sky and takes its place. "What's tougher on grass stains than the leading detergent?" queries the voiceover. "Detergent plus the power of pink." A whimsical animation demonstrates the ability of SPRAY 'n WASH Pink to remove stains without pre-treating.
Rendered in bright, primary colors, the commercial is mainly computer animation. Click 3x artists produced a photoreal model of a washing machine and colored versions white and pink. (The clothing and swirling water glimpsed spinning through the machines' glass doors were gleaned from an image of a real washer.) Artists produced a CG rendering of the product that also drops from the sky and lands on the pink machine. The background environment was derived from a digital photograph that animators retouched to make it appear as though the clouds are moving. Grass seen in the foreground was produced as computer animation with textures applied from stills of real grass.
"Producing the grass as a 3D element gave us the freedom to make a dynamic camera move into the scene," explained Peter Corbett, visual effects supervisor and director for Click 3x. "We were also able to send ripples through the grass when the pink washing machine strikes the ground." Click 3x designers and animators also produced the flat, stylized animation that forms the back half of the spot.
Perhaps the most stunning achievement of the production was that it was accomplished in just two weeks. To ensure that the animation was timed properly, artists previsualized the spot using wire-frames for the washing machines.
From that point forward, everything proceeded in high gear. "With such a tight schedule, we had to do it all simultaneously, rather than sequentially," recalled Corbett. "We were editing while we were still doing the CG. We were compositing while doing the graphic treatments. In the end, it all came together. Decisions were made in the nick of time."
Click 3x's toolset included Alias' Maya for animation, Discreet's flame for compositing and an Avid Media Composer for editing.
Credits also include Jason Mayo, exec producer; Tico Kanzaki and Eve Lim, designers; Jim Collins, Kristen Pedersen and Peter Hamilton, animators; Mark Szumski, compositor; Alicia Powers, producer; and Lars Fuchs, editor.
New York City-based Click 3X provides visual effects, computer animation and broadcast design services to the advertising and television industries. For more information, visit www.click3x.com.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
