Press Release from Asylum

Football season has arrived, and with it a new batch of Bud Light spots, this time featuring VFX from LA-based Asylum. Working with Tool Director Erich Joiner via DDB/Chicago, Asylum handled post work on the three-spot Bud Light Playbook campaign, which included stereoscopic 3D VFX on the :30, Pimp Your Ride. Each spot begins with a football coach spokesman, played by former pro football player and Rocky star Carl Weathers, flipping open the Bud Light playbook - a zig-zagging mess of Xs, Os and arrows done in traditional football play fashion - to prepare us for another lesson. Action then switches to a scene elsewhere to demonstrate the coach's wisdom.

With an established body of work in the stereoscopic 3D space for film, including the hilarious, adventure G-Force and the whimsical Tim Burton recreation of Alice in Wonderland, Asylum was able to rely their extensive experience in transitioning over to the commercial space for Pimp Your Ride. When a group of buddies roll up to the game-day tailgate pushing their car, bystanders ask if they've run out of gas. On the contrary, the vehicle has been designed for tailgating, not transportation - the trunk is a Bud Light ice bed, a keg has displaced the gas tank, a meat-covered grill sits where the engine typically would, and popcorn shoots from the interior vents.

Asylum created 3D VFX for the popcorn flying from the dashboard and added 3D ice for the end tag, which is a shot of the Bud Light playbook. They also composited a fire effect into the shot of the car's grill to heighten the 3D effect. "The visual effects were fairly straight forward," noted Asylum EP Mike Pardee. "But because the spot is in stereo, the complexity of the work was doubled. We had to pay special attention to the proper alignment of the stereo 3D plates. With our past experience in working with 3d Stereo, Asylum is equipped to handle future 3D stereo challenges as demand for this evolves."

Aside from the 3D work, Asylum cleaned out all palm trees to disguise the LA shoot location and composited many shots to create a consistent amount of liquid in the bottles, or to alter the liquid to meet client specifications.

Credits:
Client: Bud Light
Spot Title: Pimp Your Ride
Air Date: October 2010

Agency: DDB/ Chicago
VPs/CDs: Chris Roe, Chuck Rachford, Brad Morgan
CDs: Bart Culberson, Frank Oles, Michael Porritt
Associate CDs: Jason Karley, Galen Graham
Senior Producer: Scott Kemper

Prod Company: Tool of North America
Director: Erich Joiner
EP(s): Brian Latt, Matt Bonin
EP Digital: Dustin Callif

3D Consultant: Charlotte Huggins

Editorial: Whitehouse Post
Editor: Kevin Zimmerman
Producer: Dawn Guzowski

Telecine: Company 3
Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld

Sound: Another Country
Mixer: John Binder
Producer: Tim Konn

Post/Effects: Asylum
VFX Supervisor: Mitch Drain
EP: Michael Pardee
Bidding Producer: Cassandra Khavari
Producer: Darcie Muangman
Compositing Lead: Rob Trent
3D Artist(s): Matthew Maude, Fabio Zapata, Greg Stuhl, Jens Zalzala, Tom Stanton
Editor: Kosta Saric

About Asylum:
Asylum is a premier VFX and design studio handling high-profile features, commercials, music videos, and emerging media content for web and mobile platforms. Asylum's team is currently working on Tony Scott's upcoming film, Unstoppable and recently wrapped the summer hit, Sorcerer's Apprentice. Past features include Terminator Salvation, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Pirates Of The Caribbean ll & lll, Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World (Academy Award and BAFTA nominated), Moulin Rouge, Minority Report, Tony Scott's Déjà Vu, Man on Fire and Domino and Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down.