| Bacardi, Sun |
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The latest Bacardi advert, ‘Sun’ directed by Pleix and produced by Jason Ayers, RKCR/Y&R, has been nominated for a VES (Visual Effects Society) award. It has been recommended for the ‘Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial’ category. The creative team at RKCR/Y&R; Paul Angus, Ted Heath, Steve Moss and Jolyon Finch, came up with the idea with MPC creating extensive photo-real computer generated fluids for the third instalment of the distinctive high budget campaign which communicates the unique depth and quality of the liquid. The awards take place in Hollywood on February 10th. A woman formed of Bacardi grows under the rays of the sun until she explodes spreading liquid rays into space. Each ray forms another made of Bacardi, which in turn form a sun. The strap line is ‘BACARDI. Born in the Sun.’ The main challenge for the MPC team was to find a ‘stylised look’ for the bodies, which needed to be clearly defined enough to understand that they were human forms, without losing the beauty and properties of the liquid. Michel Metenier, Director from Pleix, who created animation work himself during the project in the suites at MPC explained the challenges of re-creating controlled fluids. ‘It was challenging for sure to deal with both; real footage of water and CG elements. To me, almost every aspect of the production was challenging – it was quite an unusual approach even for a company like MPC.’ To create the ad, real dancers covered from head to toe in black make up were filmed on the shoot in Majorca, with water aimed towards to show its behaviour on impact. This filming was shot at up to 2000FPS to capture the real interaction of body, water & sun light. These shot plates were used as the basis for all 3D roto-animation and 2D compositing work. MPC also took a 3D laser-scan of the real bodies and used this to create an exact CG replica of the dancers’ performance. CG water and detailed fluid simulation was then created using ‘RealFlow’. The fluid’s movement was later projected back onto the original laser-scanned geometry, giving highly detailed renders in a very short time. Trails were created using a mixture of ‘RealFlow’ and traditional particle simulation. Meanwhile, the 2D team carried out extensive clean up of the real bodies. Using Shake, 3D elements were composited into shots and ‘droplet plates’ and water shots were integrated to break up the 3D line and bring depth to the shot. Light effects enhance the inside of the bodies. Jean-Clement Soret carried out the telecine grade for the spot, this was first a technical exercise to transfer the right elements, at the right contrast and colour space, to the VFX department, to enable them to create the effects. As the spot built up, grading became essential to bind the layers of elements together. This was mostly done in VFX while compositing, with the final telecine grade bringing the spot together as well as adding clarity, transparency and a sunny feeling. The campaign is already active on over 30 markets. |