How did Climb Media grab this project?
Sudipto Das (Partner – Hammer Advertising) had been pitching for this project with HOMESTEAD. We jumped into the fray helping HAMMER with creative collaterals under the guidance of our director – Kireet Khurana and Exec. Producer – Raviraj Wade. As we have worked with Sudpito in the past, we have a very good relationship, and our expertise in this VFX intensive film, it was easy for us to bag the film.
How many artists worked on this tvc? How many studios involved?
Approximately 30 to 35 of them worked as a team in total of four studios in Mumbai over a month. Our studio, Climb Media (I) Pvt Ltd with partner studios – Epic studios and United Vision for production and After Studios for post-production.
Could you elaborate more on the pre-production of this tvc and duration taken to complete?
The pre-production was a very fast paced process. Our in-house colour artist Raviraj Kumbhar collected necessary references and images of Michael Schumacher to create storyboard/ shoot board. Arvind Shirke our lead compositor created the animatics which gave the Client (Homestead) a very good idea of the timing and how the TVC would look. The client was convinced that such a huge task of shooting MS against chroma and will give the expected results. The entire pre-production took about 3 – 4 days.
Was the tower structure your idea or was it given to you on paper?
Michael Schumacher World Tower (MSWT) is the second hero of our TVC. Upton – Hansen Architects, a firm in UK has designed the MSWT to detail. They helped and guided us to recreate the tower for tvc’s purpose which was done at United Vision. Lot of research and referencing was done to create the landscaping and finishing of the film.
How interesting was the production and post-production process and the duration taken to complete each module?
For production purposes the brief was very simple – huge/enormous, high end classy, posh, clean, crisp should be the end result of the TVC. We had a humongous task in front of us with very little time for the execution. We decided to split the TVC in two different parts, 1st part of the TVC where MS close up footage was used along with the backgrounds was done at Epic Studios and the other Hero of the TVC the actual Michael Schumacher World Tower was recreated entirely from scratch at United Vision. These two studios are our execution partners.
The other aspect of post-production apart from the treatment was the sound design. Director Kireet Khurana already had a style of music in mind even before the CG work started. The music had to go with the visuals, starting with suspense slowly going into the comfortable but steady tone using very minimalistic musical instruments to keep the track very sharp and then building up the crescendo as the Michael Schumacher World tower is revealed. The music was done by Rupert Fernandes at Kala Studios. The entire TVC was done in 1 month.
Managing shooting schedules with Michael must have been tricky? Was it easy to make Schumacher act?
Kireet had a very clear and precise requirement during the pre-production phase according to which storyboard/ shoot board were created which made shooting Michael Schumacher very systematic. The video shoot took place in Geneva, Switzerland and was coordinated by Kireet along with Francesco Carrozzini (Creative Supervisor on set)and Kevin Leong (DOP).I was told MS is a gem of a person and camera friendly. MS was very natural and it is evident from the TVC.
Kireet Khurana, Director of this TVC, adds, “It was truly a first time even for me to achieve this level of photo realism. I learnt a lot and my team supported me unconditionally working long hours. We got our dues when Michael Schumacher personally congratulated us on a job well done! Am proud of our team at Climb Media for having executed this gem.”
What were the major challenges on the animation front?
There were not major challenges on animation front but getting the precise proportions of the MSWT was very important for us. We treated the MSWT to be a ‘high class product’ rather than just some building coming up somewhere. Apart from that the landscaping had to be very attractive, hence a lot of time and resources went into getting it very close to Kireet’s vision. Also our work had to match up with the aura of MS, this was the major challenge.
After how much of R n D, did you come up with the final look?
Kireet had a vision for the TVC even before the shooting began.
His vision and treatment was shared with the client and MS team. The commercial is treated as part of an interview with Michael Schumacher. The sections where he is asked questions have been treated in cold tones and sections where he confidently replies have been treated in beautiful warm tones. The overall edit was treated with a lot of shine, lens flares at the right places, digital flashes on the photo frames which gave the shots more lively feel, flash inter – cuts were added to give it a celebrity touch and overall soft feel for the TVC was added to make it pleasing to the eye.
Can we go more technical, which software’s are used to animate this tvc?
Adobe Photoshop was used for Storyboarding whereas Maya, Vue 3D and little bit of 3DS Max was brought into picture for asset building with a combination of Fusion and After Effects for the post production.
Which are your favorite shots and the most challenging shots in the tvc?
My favorite shot would be where the entire MSWT is reveled, the top angle shot. This shot made me say wow when we saw the rendered sequence for the first time. Kireet wanted this shot to be the ‘hero’ shot and it turned out to be fantastic.
The most challenging shot was to create the hero shot. It had to look right and wow at the same time.
According to you, why does this TVC click?
I think it would be, MS endorsing Lifestyle/Real estate brand for the first time in India.
Please share the Credit list
Client : Homestead , India
Agency – Hammer Communication – Delhi
Agency Creative & Head : Sudipto Das
Production House – Climb Media
Director – Kireet Khurana
DOP – Kevin Leong
Producer – Raviraj Wade
Line Producer : Lea Rindlisbacher – Eqal Visual Productions (Team In Geneva ,Switzerland)
Music – Rupert Fernandes
Pre Production: Prashant Shikare, Raviraj Kumbhar (Climb Media)
CG VFX & Post : United Vision & Epic Studios
CG Supervisor : Nikhil Warwadekar (Climb Media)
Online : Umapathy – After Studio
Voice Over – Francoise Castelino