A runaway spring toy and its CG stunt double find their groove with Kool And The Gang’s funk classic “Jungle Boogie” and prove irresistible fun in this theater spot from directing duo Sacred Egg with MPC handling the VFX.
MPC’s VFX Supervisor Alex Lovejoy “The director’s wanted to film the spring toy in camera as much as possible, however, early tests with the puppeteers showed there would be restrictions, such as when it walks down the stairs and through the hallway. So, the decision was made to support the live action with CG.
“A lot of motion tests were done early on as proof of concept and to work out the beat of the spring toy with the music.”
Fabian Frank, head of creature development at MPC: “It was tricky to find the balance between the toy being a physical object that had to react to the laws of physics but is also a living thing. We did a lot of previs work to figure out how to give the spring its attitude and the animation in its walk.”
Client: Halifax
Agency: adam&eveDDB
Copywriter: Ben Stilitz
Art Director: Colin Booth
Producer: Hannah Needham
CCO: Richard Brim
Group ECD: Ben Tollet
Production: Riff Raff Films
Director: The Sacred Egg
DOP: Alex Barber
EP: Matthew Fone
Producer: Jane Tredget
VFX: MPC
Producer: Ryan Hancocks
VFX Supervisor: Alex Lovejoy
VFX Assists: Alexander Kulikov, Dan Benjamin, David Felipe, Ed Taylor, Lucie Brant, Mauro Nodari
CG Supervisor: Fabian Frank
Animation Lead: Chris Welsby
Color: Richard Fearon, Matthieu Toullet
Editor: Sam Bould @ Cut&Run