Press release from Mothership/Digital Domain:
Los Angeles, CA -- Mothership director David Rosenbaum teamed with OgilvyWest to tell a simple story about a complex concept in a “Robotarm” for Cisco that broke during the NFC Championship broadcast on January 22. Despite a four-week timeline, the all-CG spot delivers film caliber computer animation that is entirely photo-real.
The commercial depicts a cheerfully aware group of self-sustaining automotive assembly robots as a metaphor for Cisco Intelligent Networks that can fix and diagnose themselves. Nine unique robots star in the spot, all designed to emulate the look of classic factory machinery enhanced with distinct characteristics. Synchronized to Gary Numan’s “Cars,” the robots drill, rivet, screw, weld and hand body parts off to one another. The set was entirely built in CG, based on reference photography from modern automotive plants.
Rosenbaum collaborated closely with OgilvyWest co-chief creative officers James Dawson-Hollis and Bill Wright to approach the spot as if it were a live action shoot. Instead of shooting with cameras on set, they worked alongside Digital Domain’s previs team to frame up shots and work out compositions with rough animations.
"From the beginning we knew we wanted to use a factory metaphor to tell the story of complex computer systems that can diagnose and fix themselves," said Rosenbaum. "Together with the OgilvyWest team we took that idea to a new place—doing away with a traditional assembly line, creating robots with distinct personalities and bringing them closer together so they could interact. In the end I think we were able to humanize the technology and make it more understandable."
“The nature of the schedule forced us to work in an unorthodox way on this project,” added VFX supervisor Aladino Debert, also a Mothership director. “Doing look development and modeling while simultaneously animating, lighting and compositing, relied heavily on the technical and artistic prowess of our seasoned team and ability to turn around photoreal rendering very quickly.”
About Mothership
Hybrid commercial production company Mothership creates advertising, branded content, and entertainment for screens of all sizes. A sister company to Digital Domain [1], Mothership represents top global creative talent and enables them with all of the resources and expertise of the world-class, Academy-honored studio. Mothership creates the content, strategies and campaigns that take ideas from concept through completion, to roll out brand experiences across multiple media platforms. http://www.mothership.net [2]
About Digital Domain
Digital production company Digital Domain was founded in 1993. The company has created visuals for more than 80 movies, including Titanic, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and TRON: Legacy and hundreds of commercials. Its artists have earned multiple Academy Awards®. Digital Domain recently completed visual effects for Thor, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Real Steel and is in production on Jack the Giant Killer, 47 Ronin and a full slate of commercials. Digital Domain is headquartered in Venice, California with studios in Vancouver, San Francisco and Florida. http://www.digitaldomain.com [1]
CREDITS
CISCO “ROBOTARM”
Directed by: David Rosenbaum
Agency: OgilvyWest
Chief Creative Officers: James Dawson-Hollis, Bill Wright
Associate Creative Directors: Jeff Heath, Dennis Lee
Agency Producer: Eric Rasco
Agency President: Heather MacPherson
Account Director: Efren Gonzalez
Account Management Supervisor: Sarah Tabbush
Production, Animation, Editorial & Visual Effects by: Digital Domain
Ed Ulbrich: President, Commercial Division; Executive Vice President
Tanya Cohen: Executive Producer
Scott Gemmell: Head of Production
Aladino Debert: Visual Effects Supervisor
Lee Carlton: CG Supervisor
William Lemmon: Producer
Alex Michael: Coordinator
Fred Fouquet: Editor
Colin Woods: Editor
Brian Creasey: Generalist, Previs Artist
Tim Jones: Generalist
Trisha Mcnamara: Generalist
Val Sinlao: Generalist
Anthony Ramirez: Generalist
Rick Thomas: Animator
Stephan Brezinsky: Animator
Ruel Smith: Animator
Tom St. Amand: Animator
Adrian Dimond: Technical Director
Derek Crosby: Technical Director
Tom Briggs: FX Artist
Adrian Graham: FX Artist
Cody Williams: Motion Graphics Artist
Jeff Heusser: Nuke Compositor, Flame Artist
Scott Hale: Nuke Compositor
Niles Heckman: Nuke Compositor, Previs Artist
Sven Dreesbach: Nuke Compositor
Music:
Composition: Gary Numan "Cars"
Re-record: kinseywhitehouse
Sound Design: Henryboy
Sound Designer: Bill Chesley
Producer: Kate Gibson
Mix:
Rohan Young, Lime Studios
Links:
[1] http://www.digitaldomain.com/
[2] http://www.mothership.net/