Working with Fallon, Director Jake Mengers produced the new 30” ‘Soft World’ spot for SCA owned brand Cushelle. This iteration sees our cuddly Koala taken into a dynamic game world where he wields the power with his ‘Whoosh 3000.’
[dailymotion]https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1bfl6k_cushelle-s-koala-adventure_videogames[/dailymotion]
Designed as homage to gameplay over the years, Koala is taken from his regular world to one that resembles the 8-bit features of the 80’s, through to a 64-bit graphic, realistic domain and beyond into a filmic action sequence. As Koala negotiates his new surroundings, his ‘Whoosh 3000’ transforms pixelated objects, instantly changing them into softer versions of themselves. MPC’s VFX team developed the spot entirely in CG, using a variety of VFX techniques to create the immersive environment.
VFX
Jake had a clear vision for the design and multiple layers of the new world, allowing the team to jump straight into the pre-vis. The 3D pre-vis mapped out the placement of the various objects, as well as determining how the camera and Koala would travel through the new environment. There was a huge amount of action to fit into the 30” spot, so the pre-vis was key in the early planning stages.
Creating an 8-bit pixelated world that then had to become filmic and 3 dimensional required some creative and technical problem solving. Designing pixelated trees that would hold up as the cameras pans past them required the team to develop a new bespoke software tool. This meant that instead of pixels, elements within the game appear as cubes, as the tool arranges them on a 3D grid based on the volume of a 3D model.
VFX Supervisor Fabian Frank said, “Creating a whole new environment for our Koala was incredibly fun, especially as developing a pixelated environment like this was quite subjective – what should an 8-bit blossom tree look like? It was important to keep certain elements intact so everything was recognizable in its new state.”
MPC’s VFX team utilized Arnold software for rendering for the first time. This meant a new pipeline was set up to respond to MPC’s in-house fur tool, Furtility.
Credits
Agency: Fallon
Agency Producer: Celestine Hall
Creative director David Dao
Creatives: Alice Burton and Diogo Barroso
Production Company: MPC Creative
Director: Jake Mengers
VFX: MPC
VFX Producer: Marianna Bruynseels
Line Producer: Russell Forde
VFX Supervisor: Michael Gregory
CG Supervisor: Fabian Frank
