R!OT provided visual effects and post-production services for a new 30-second spot for Honda that delivers a message about the new Accord in two languages. Conceived by Los Angeles ad agency Muse Cordero Chen, the spot shows a red Accord gliding back and forth across a white background. As it rolls along, the car leaves a black trail. It's only when the camera pulls back at the end of the spot that it becomes apparent that the car's path had a purpose, as the black lines form an elegant calligraphy character. The character drawn by the car means "life" in the Chinese and Korean languages as the spot is aimed at these fast growing communities in the United States. The agency produced versions of the spot with voiceover in each language, but needed a visual that would speak to both markets. "We looked for an image that was common to the two cultures," explained Muse Cordero Chen creative director Wilky Lau. "Calligraphy is important in Chinese and Korean traditions, it was also something that we could relate to the qualities of the car." Muse Cordero Chen hired a professional calligrapher to produce a rendering on paper of the "life" character. They then provided the drawing to R!OT visual effects artist Verdi Sevenhuysen who used Discreet Flame to reproduce and animate the character in video form. "Verdi approached it logically and logistically," Lau said. "There are certain strokes the car needed to make. It's not really drawing the character, but the movements had to make sense." For the background the car drives on, Verdi effectively recreated the look of rice paper, the traditional paper used in calligraphy.
