FROZEN TUNDRA
MAPLE LEAF / JOHN ST.
Client: Maple Leaf
Agency: John St.
Agency CD: Stephen Jurisic
Agency CW/AD: Simon Bruyn, Andrew Livingston
Agency Producer: Dale Giffen
Production Company: Tendril Design+Animation Inc.
Directors: Chris Bahry, Alexandre Torres
Producer: Kate Bate
Director of Photography: James Garnder
Music & Sound Design: Pirate Radio
Editor: Steve Manz
3D Artists: Chris Bahry, Steven Hollman, Marcin Porebski, Alexandre Torres
Additional Modeling & Textures Alex Krivoi
ZBrush Artist: Vini Nascimento
Particle FX: Vahid Tehrani
Compositors: Chris Bahry, Patrick Coffey, Dan Margules
When the script for 'Frozen Tundra' arrived at the studio, we immediately pulled out our Blu-ray of BBC's Planet Earth and re-watched the staggering helicopter shots in the chapter about frozen wastelands. Following that, we scoured our favourite films, photographer's portfolios, and cinematics for visual inspiration.
The spot had to open on a moody and epic-feeling landscape and hold off on the punchline as long as possible. We also wanted the spot to stand multiple viewings, so that once you know the story, you can go back and pick up on clues in the opening shots that everything is playing out inside a freezer.
It must be said that the team at John St. were great collaborators and incredibly supportive across a very tight schedule. We dare not mention here how many production days we had on the project.
Concept art, styleframes and mood board we created to guide modeling and layout.
Early on we realized that convincing snow would require tons of surface detail. We started be exporting our low-res scene layouts into Zbrush for detailing, and then exported meshes and 32 bit displacement maps back for rendering using Vray. In most scenes, a bit of forced perspective trickery – compare the size of the tubs to the icetray in the first image – helped make the scenes feel huge while maintaining relative object scales and the illusion of a freezer interior. The bottom row shows the look of some of the CGI fluid FX/mist passes that we layered into the comp with practical dry ice and smoke elements shot on set.
Food shoots are always challenging and this one was no exception. We covered two pack shots as well as several passes of plated food (not in the Director's cut). The bottom row shows the bluescreen freezer door stand-in.
How in the world do you make a burrito wrapper tear in a convincing and art-directable way? Watch the below video to find out.
CREDITS
Client: Maple Leaf
Agency: John St.
Agency CD: Stephen Jurisic
Agency CW/AD: Simon Bruyn, Andrew Livingston
Agency Producer: Dale Giffen
Production Company: Tendril Design+Animation Inc.
Directors: Chris Bahry, Alexandre Torres
Producer: Kate Bate
Director of Photography: James Garnder
Music & Sound Design: Pirate Radio
Editor: Steve Manz
3D Artists: Chris Bahry, Steven Hollman, Marcin Porebski, Alexandre Torres
Additional Modeling & Textures Alex Krivoi
ZBrush Artist: Vini Nascimento
Particle FX: Vahid Tehrani
Compositors: Chris Bahry, Patrick Coffey, Dan Margules
ABOUT
When the script for 'Frozen Tundra' arrived at the studio, we immediately pulled out our Blu-ray of BBC's Planet Earth and re-watched the staggering helicopter shots in the chapter about frozen wastelands. Following that, we scoured our favourite films, photographer's portfolios, and cinematics for visual inspiration.
The spot had to open on a moody and epic-feeling landscape and hold off on the punchline as long as possible. We also wanted the spot to stand multiple viewings, so that once you know the story, you can go back and pick up on clues in the opening shots that everything is playing out inside a freezer.
It must be said that the team at John St. were great collaborators and incredibly supportive across a very tight schedule. We dare not mention here how many production days we had on the project.
STILLS
PROCESS
Concept art, styleframes and mood board we created to guide modeling and layout.
Early on we realized that convincing snow would require tons of surface detail. We started be exporting our low-res scene layouts into Zbrush for detailing, and then exported meshes and 32 bit displacement maps back for rendering using Vray. In most scenes, a bit of forced perspective trickery – compare the size of the tubs to the icetray in the first image – helped make the scenes feel huge while maintaining relative object scales and the illusion of a freezer interior. The bottom row shows the look of some of the CGI fluid FX/mist passes that we layered into the comp with practical dry ice and smoke elements shot on set.
Food shoots are always challenging and this one was no exception. We covered two pack shots as well as several passes of plated food (not in the Director's cut). The bottom row shows the bluescreen freezer door stand-in.
RIGGING THE DEAD BURRITO
How in the world do you make a burrito wrapper tear in a convincing and art-directable way? Watch the below video to find out.