Digital Domain has teamed up with longtime collaborator Carl Erik Rinsch and his German production company Markenfilm on a: 45 TV commercial for Audi, via Hamburg, Germany-based ad agency Kempertrautmann.
Press Release by Digital Domain:
Venice, CA, (Sept. 11, 2009) -- Digital Domain has teamed up with longtime collaborator Carl Erik Rinsch and his German production company Markenfilm on a: 45 TV commercial for Audi, via Hamburg, Germany-based ad agency Kempertrautmann. The digital production studio designed a highly complex -- yet ethereally beautiful -- visual device that represents Audi's new tagline, "Efficient Technology, intelligently combined." The spot titled "Intelligently Combined" showcases the Audi A4 2.0 TDI e and first aired Sept. 4th 2009 in Spain and will roll out across Europe.
"Intelligently Combined" opens on a minimalist museum space. Hanging in the middle of the spacious room is a clear glass cube divided into multiple sections like a Rubik's Cube puzzle. Various automobile parts are encased within the sections, which begin to rotate and shift, releasing pistons, gears, bolts and other parts from their compartments. They drop and fall into place with other Audi parts, joining together to form the fully realized Audi A4 2.0 TDI e featured at the end of the spot, the only live-action portion of the otherwise entirely CG commercial.
Directors and agencies have long tapped Digital Domain for its expertise in modeling and animating highly complex, detailed and photo-real mechanical imagery. However the team -- led by Visual Effects Supervisor Jay Barton -- still faced the creative challenge of designing and orchestrating the complicated movements of the cube, which had to build an Audi piece by piece as the puzzle was "solved."
Barton and his team also did extensive look development, trying out 10 different room environments and lighting scenarios before deciding upon a look that felt accurately majestic and grand, as if the space was built specifically to show off this event. It was also important that the room be strong enough structurally to hold up the cube, its cables and the control mechanisms that make the whole "kinetic installation art piece" work. Barton oversaw a team of eight 3D artists, four compositors, two rotoscoping artists and two motion trackers over the course of eight weeks. The collaboration with director Carl Erik Rinsch is just the latest in a slate of recent commercial work, which also includes spots for Lincoln, Lexus, LG and Mazda.
About Digital Domain:Digital Domain is an Academy Award-winning digital production studio with a reputation for innovation and artistry. The studio has created visual effects for 75+ movies that have collectively generated more than $12billion in worldwide box-office sales, including most recently, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON for which it won the Academy Award for Visual Effects. A creative giant in advertising, Digital Domain works with a stellar group of A-list directors including David Fincher, Mark Romanek, Joseph Kosinski, Carl Erik Rinsch and more. Industry recognition for Digital Domain's advertising work includes many Clio, AICP, and Cannes Lion awards and other industry honors. The company is continually pushing into new territory and is being recognized for its pioneering work in photo-real digital humans and productions that bring the worlds of movies, games, advertising and the web closer together. Digital Domain is privately held and based in Venice, California. Get more info at www.digitaldomain.com
