Santa Monica, CA -- Production company King and Country (K&C) recently worked with ad agency RPA to direct and produce a new campaign for the 2013 Honda Civic, which has been widely lauded by the media and drivers alike.

In the first spot, “More to Love,” the camera moves through the inside of the Civic as blue and white metallic mylar balloons inflate containing kudos from major trade magazines, newspapers and websites. Cut to the outside, where the doors burst open and hundreds of quote-filled balloons spill out of the car, joining others that float together to comprise a heart-shaped cloud, as the voiceover concludes, “It’s the best Civic yet.”

Similarly, “Civic Love” showers the love on the outside of the Civic, as the text balloons pop up and animatedly form into a heart above the car.

“By featuring real quotes from real reviewers and consumers, the heart of this campaign is firmly rooted in humanity and personality,” says Rick Gledhill, K&C Director and Partner. “Our goal was to ensure that this spirit resonated throughout the entirety of both spots, from the typography design to the location choice to the shooting style.”

Early on in the discussion, a decision was made to use an art gallery space as the backdrop, which also serves a genuine purpose: turning the Civic and the quotes into an art installation. The aim was to harness the established spirited, friendly nature of Honda marketing and elevate it by drawing inspiration from the look and feel of contemporary gallery exhibits.

With its history of shooting cars for post, King and Country’s director and supporting post team were capable of turning the spots around quickly and efficiently. Using the previs animation created for both spots during the pitch stage allowed K&C to move promptly into production, which was crucial with an incredibly tight turnaround of two weeks to prep and shoot, and 2 1/2 weeks for postproduction.

“We wanted our spots to have a quirky, natural beauty, and not look like slick, stylized motion graphics,” explains Gledhill. “We shot everything on location in a sparse brick warehouse, and constructed a gallery set inside that, which we could reconfigure in many ways for each shot. The key to our speed on the shoot day was having movable gallery walls. Every set piece, including the 40-foot walls, was constructed on wheels and could be glided around to the perfect position.”

“The car was static, so we let the camera do the work,” continues Gledhill, who shot 5K on the RED EPIC. “We shot off a dolly and tracks, riding around the Civic. This specific approach to movement and framing makes it seem as though we’re seeing the point-of-view of someone looking at the car, lending a personal and human feel to the camera, and adding a sense of discovery.”

In post, K&C tracked every shot in 3D, then match-moved a CG car in the same position, so reflections of the typography were created in the sheet metal and glass. This also allowed the team to create photo-real shadows over the Civic and on the floor.