Nexus Studios director Johnny Kelly’s animated character mastery takes many forms and this latest, a musical romp for Austria’s Energie AG thru Vienna agency Studio Sonntag, merges live-action sockets and CG lip-sync.

Johnny Kelly: “I wanted the realism of a live shoot, but the control of an animated performance. Tracking 3D-animated lips onto real sockets gave us the best of both worlds.
 

“Our goal was to breathe more humanity into these sockets than we could into any actor, and if you feel like your own sockets are watching you afterwards, we’ve done our job.”

 
“I like mixing high and low tech. So while our VFX team did some absolutely incredible 3D tracking and digital facial replacement, we also had lots of things puppeteered on fishing lines. The final result is, I hope, a wonky cocktail.

“Our goal was to breathe more humanity into these sockets than we could into any actor, and if you feel like your own sockets are watching you afterwards, we’ve done our job.

“With the soulful karaoke classic ‘Feeling Good’ at its heart, the project leaned on music and performance. The recording sessions were captured on video, giving the animators subtle reference material to mirror the quirks of the actors.”
 
 

 
Brand: Energie AG

Agency: Studio Sonntag

Production: Nexus Studios
Director: Johnny Kelly
EP: Jo Bierton, Antony Austin
Producer: Luke Tierney, Tyler Antin
Production Manager: Ruyi Meer
Production Coordinator: Sarah McDonald
Creative Development: Melanie Climent
CG Supervisor: Mark Davies
VFX Supervisor: Sacha Danjou
Studio Lead (Cover): Gareth Tredrea
VFX Supervisor: Sacha Danjou
Compositor: Zsolt Sebok, Chiara Feriani
3D Modeller/Texture Artist: James Drummond
3D Animator: Alina Bopele
Lighting/Rendering: Pawel Adamiec, Patrick Tomasini
Storyboards: Melanie Climent
Lead Rigger: Niko Rossi
Editor: Zaki Fulford
Head of Production: Rachel Moss
Head of Resourcing: Natalie Busuttil
Talent Manager: Indiana Wilson
Talent Acquisition Manager: Sophia Whyte

Live Action Production: Solent
Director of Photography: Luke Jacobs
Live Action Producer: Luke Tierney
MD: Alex Momchev
MP: Magdalena Staneva
Service Producer: Elena Doroshenko
Production Manager: Dimitar Milushev
Production Coordinator: Joana Bogdanova
2nd AD: Vasilena Boneva
1st AD: Yana Alexieva
Production Designer: Evelina Velichkova
PA: Timothé Gawron, Mina Shopova, Nikolay Kamenov

Grade: Halo Post
Colorist: Duncan Russell
Executive Post Producer: Stephen Morrison
Head of DI Picture Workflow: Karl Barnes-Dallas

Audio: Fonic
Sound Design/Mix: Christopher Swaine
Foley Recordist: Stephen Maxwell
Foley Artist: Andrea King
Audio Post Production Producer: Eugénie Dunster

Music: Leland
Song performed by: SIPHO