What happens when two Asian techno cowboys ride through a futuristic desert? They find a giant jellyfish, nestling between tree trunks naturally. The first spot from Hutchinson 3s new campaign about sharing goes from the bizarre to the surreal as two outlaws drag their jellyfish back to town, feed it an illegal-looking substance and gaze wondrously as it comes to life. Soon the cowboys and jellyfish are dancing in tandem, cutting some slick moves.
The Mill helped Fredrik Bond achieve his wild vision by adding post-produced life to the model jellyfish, as designed by model maker Stan Winston, through dancing tentacles built in 3D. This entailed some serious jellyfish research from the 3D team, as led by Jordi Bares, who meticulously studied their natural movement and texture. Bares attended the shoot in L.A. to ensure that all 3D lighting exactly matched the shoot locations lighting conditions.
Once animated, the tentacles were meant to interact with the actors as they lit-up, so Bond shot various passes using differing light patterns. Jordi then used these light paths as positioning reference for the 3D tentacles, so that the light source on the actors and 3D elements remained constant. flame was used to further enhance this lighting consistency. The flame team was also responsible for fulfilling Bondss brief of a pseudo Asian neon city by adding fluorescent elements to both exterior and interior shots.
The Mill credits include:* Producers: Darren OKelly, Helen Weil, Fi Kilroe* Telecine artist: Adam Scott* Lead CG/FX advisor: Jordi Bares* CG animators: Laurent Makowski, Dadi Einarsson, Vincent Baertsoen, Joshua Merck* flame: Ben Turner, Gavin Wellsman, Ant Walsham* flame assists: David Parker & Pheng
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
