R-Rated
"This spot included a multitude of effects including neon lit set extensions of futuristic cityscapes, falling rain effects, exploding speed cameras, beauty work on female androids, plus adding their black android eyes, glowing wolf eyes, and bringing in the exploding CG crystal."
"Rushes MGFX Studio handled the design and concept considerations involved in creating the dark and moody city that serve as the backdrop to the commercial. The futuristic city visualisations were created in collaboration with the director, Kirby McClure, before we began tracking and compositing it onto previously shot buildings."
"A lot of preparations were made before shooting and on set, to make the post process go as smoothly as possible. This included creating graphic sequences that could be projected in camera to minimise the work load after the shoot. In total, we had about 2 weeks to complete the post on this project. That was with Flame, Nuke, Maya, MGFX & Resolve artists working simultaneously."
"There was some really interesting imagery in this particular commercial, such as the wolves. The wolves were actually on set and were very large and scary. We added the red eyes in post and then painted out their handlers from the backgrounds and the leads that they were on. Smoke and dust was then tracked into these shots to add atmosphere."
"Another cool image was the Japanese tattoo that read レースなしではホンダはあり得ない. I believe it says "There can be no Honda without racing". It was applied on set with make-up but we did end up altering a few of the characters in post after receiving an updated translation after the shoot."
"This was done by painting the in camera tattoo off - back to the skin, and tracking in masks for the new Japanese characters. These were then used to grade the skin down to match the ink effect of the makeup. There are several of these 'Easter eggs' throughout the film - such as the cat's collar which has the date on it that Honda first won the F1 Grand Prix."
"Then there was the rotating black crystal we sculpted in ZBrush, which then shattered into hundreds of fragments using Houdini’s procedural modelling capabilities. Although the crystal explosion was initially driven using a particle system, the need for creative control meant that the majority of the pieces ended up being hand animated."
"A lot of the post on this job is actually invisible and not as obvious as say the cyborg eye or exploding crystals and speed camera. Skies were replaced in almost every shot. All of the rain is CGI, and there was a lot of cleanup of tracking markers plus matte paintings of all the skylines had to be created."
"It was a tight deadline to work towards. I did at least one 30 hour shift towards the end of the project, but was accompanied the whole way by our director Kirby McClure. It was a really gruelling but at the same time massively fun project to be part of thanks to all the great people working on it. I hope to work with them all again in the future. This was definitely one of my favourite jobs to work on ever!"