There has been an exponential rise in the adoption of game-tech like Unity and Unreal Engine in 2020 owing to its ability to buttress virtual production in the most efficient ways, almost to a point of making chroma screens obsolete.
Technicolor India Head Biren Ghose had shared, “People who belong to the larger sector of film, broadcasting and so on and so forth are now seeing that the production of those sectors will also happen from the technology of Gaming and Animation.” These prescient words are coming true and how.
Across major VFX studios like ILM, Framestore, Sony Picture Imageworks, Centroid, DNEG and Pixomondo, virtual production has been a common thread throughout the year.
Recently we witnessed Technicolour’s own arm MPC’s tryst with virtual production taking hold with a breathtaking imagery created with the help of their virtual studios. Lexus International, MPC and The&Partnership joined forces with director Jaron Albertin, to bring ‘Lexus Electrified’ to life.
The global, environment-friendly campaign, created through MPC’s Virtual Studio, imagined and charted an electrified future in a series of films and social assets. The film tracks Lexus’s revolutionary all-electric concept, the LF-30, through bold and modern CGI environments, revealing the current Lexus Electrified range, demonstrating that the innovative thinking behind the LF-30 also prevails in their electrified vehicles today.
What may have been challenging in terms of production and delivery of CGI-heavy campaign during covid was made easier with the help of industry-leading technology and innovation.
They developed this campaign completely safe and remote by utilising MPC’s Virtual Studio and the game engine, Unreal. Working with the director virtually to construct the whole experience in the same way as a traditional shoot, they had complete control over the camera and CG elements. “The finished campaign is a nod towards the future of sustainable auto productions and a new remote way of working,” shared creative director Carsten Keller.
VFX supervisor Dominic Alderson said, “We had to work out how to shoot a full car commercial with next to no shooting, and no car. We had begun to explore virtual production with a core team already, so we took that experience and applied it to Lexus, doing a full virtual shoot inside eight different CG environments over five days – all using standard shooting techniques, call sheets included!”
MPC chief growth officer Usama Al-Qassab added, “The biggest advantage in using real-time is that CG artists are provided with the creative pallet to deliver breakthrough ideas which previously were cost and time prohibitive. The result is stunning work which delights the client and stands out from the crowd.”
For the LF-30’s interior, they informed that the design team further developed last year’s LF30 Electrified by introducing augmented reality into the vehicles heads up display. The design director Ryan Hays explained, “The design teams responsibilities were to populate this future city with abstract billboards and brands while also creating a future tech version of the LF-30 user interface. The end film uses AR to embrace energy, motion, movement and sustainability, whilst never losing the design and engineering edge that Lexus are known for.”
We are chuffed to see more and more of this technology being extensively used to depict imagery across adverts, films and games. Stay tuned to know more about the challenges that this technology poses.
Credits :-
Client: Lexus International
General Manager, Lexus Global Branding: Brian Bolain
Brand Management Division: Seji Takimoto, Hiroo Togashi, Yukina Iizuka, Ema Yukiko
Creative Agency: The&Partnership
Executive Creative Director: Micky Tudor, Yan Elliott
Creative Director: Adam Fish
Creative: Tom Loveless, Matt Wood
Senior Producer: Rick Carter
Head of Integrated Production: Charles Crisp Creative
Producer: Angus Lees
Production: Smuggler
Director: Jaron Albertin
Producer: Nick Fewtrell
Managing Director: Fergus Brown
Director of Photography: Ismail Shallis
Post Production: MPC
CG Creative Director: Carsten Keller
CG Supervisor: Dominic Alderson
2D Creative Director: Marcus Dryden
2D Supervisor: Johan Alfort
VFX Producer: Jaz Rongokea
Colorist: Matthieu Toullet
Edit: Trim
Editor: Dominic Leung
Assistant: Magdalena Plugowska
Producer: Noreen Khan
Sound Design: Factory
Sound Engineer: Phil Bollard Senior Audio Producer: Lucy Spong
Music Composition and Soundscape: James William Blades
Represented by: Daniel Balk
Vocals by: Madge
Composition Title: Pulse & Beat Electrified
