Santa Monica-based visual effects house R!OT recently worked the bugs into a new 30-second spot for the travel Website Expedia.com. A team of three compositors and a computer animator created the swarms of flying insects that menace a pair of vacationers in the spot, conceived by Deutsch, Los Angeles. In "Mosquito Net," a woman exploring hotel choices on Expedia.com sees the descriptive phrase "mosquito nets in every room" under a hotel listing. The woman imagines herself and her husband in a tropical hideaway, only to awaken in the middle of the night besieged by insects. R!OTs role in the project was to create the pesky pests that cling to the mosquito netting in the fantasy sequence. Some of bugs were shot live, but most were added in post-production. Individual mosquitoes, flies and grasshoppers were created via one of three distinct techniques. Background bugs were produced en masse by R!OTs Dominic Daigle using Softimage|XSI. Flying insects seen in closer views were produced as 3D elements by R!OT animators who created insect models based on photographs of different species. Stationary bugs resting on the mosquito netting that surrounds the couples bed were derived from real insects shot in camera or against blue screen and composited onto the netting. Verdi Sevenhuysen worked with fellow compositors Stefano Trivelli and Claus Hansen in integrating each of the various insect elements into the live-action scene. "They worked extremely hard to perfect the effect, adding bugs, taking bugs away. They were quick and creative and always delivered what we asked for," said FilmCores Gordon Carey, who edited the spot. "They did a great job of creating a travelers worst nightmare."
