How Reality Inspired BMW ‘Make It Real’ Spot for the iX2 Electric SAV
The new electric BMW iX2 enlisted the help of digital influencer Lil Miquela to star in its latest spot, ‘Make It Real’, and showcases the beauty of real life, including the magic of seemingly mundane experiences. The emotional spot, which is more like a short film, was created by Media.Monks, one of BMW's lead agencies, led by creative director Mario Zaradic and directed by BWGTBLD’s Stefanie Soho, alongside head of BMW iX2 campaign Christina von Jakubowski and Daniela Sykes, project lead film. The campaign sees Lil Miquela experience a series of real-world scenarios that range from sweet - watching children play on a beach, to thrilling - a night out in a club.
Capturing Lil Miquela in the myriad of different light conditions and emotions, as well as working with an existing digital avatar overall, was of course a challenge, VFX supervisor and founder of Rohtau, Jordi Bares, can confirm. The team approached this using AI face replacement technology to give Miquela the widest range of expressions while safeguarding her pre-existing features. Jordi reveals that the team had to generate 20,000 images of Miquela to train the AI model. Additionally, the nature of top secret vehicle filming meant Rohtau had to create a digital clone of the car capable of invisible transitions.
Another challenge, somewhat ironically, was not making Lil Miquela appear too real to contrast her existence with that of the authentic experiences she encounters. DapperLabs, owners of the Lil Miquela IP, provided Rohtau with animation caches so that the team could match her Instagram expressions down to the pixel. It’s one of Rohtau’s biggest projects to date and it tested the studio’s global distributed model on many fronts. Jordi says that Rohtau enlisted the expertise of 28 artists from all over the world, each selected on the strength of their skills for the task at hand.
Today, LBB speaks to Jordi about the “new era” he thinks this spot will usher in, and how the “blend of technical innovation, resource utilisation, and meticulous attention to detail” allowed Rohtau to deliver on everyone’s very high expectations.
LBB> What was the initial brief from the client like? How extensive was the VFX part?
Jordi> The initial client brief was incredibly exciting! The concept of Lil Miquela's transformation and her journey of self-discovery was mesmerising, even on paper. The VFX work required for this project was substantial, not only for our hero, the iX2 vehicle, but also for our protagonist, Lil Miquela.
Filming an actress and then seamlessly replacing her face in 31 shots was a formidable challenge, especially given the director's desire for creative freedom. It was a considerable project right from the beginning, and Stefanie's Soho visionary treatment defined our goals, which we enthusiastically embraced and brought to life.
LBB> The spot is all about life’s small and beautiful moments; it’s grounded in realism. Tell us how you worked within those parameters.
Jordi> Collaborating with Stefanie on this project, it became clear that capturing the essence of the performance was of utmost importance. Rather than opting for a traditional 3D face that might resemble but not truly convey the actress's essence, we used AI face replacement. With a team of exceptional AI face replacement artists, we were confident in achieving the impeccable standard required. Working closely with BMW, Stefanie and agency, we were able to capture those magical, small moments and seamlessly translate them into Miquela's world without losing authenticity. The alignment between BMW, director, agency and Lil Miquela’s manager in embracing this bold approach is evident in the commercial's outcome.
LBB> Next to the iX2, Lil Miquela is the star of the spot and a digital avatar. Tell us what it was like working with an ‘existing’ virtual asset - did it present any unusual challenges?
Jordi> Working with Lil Miquela, presented unique challenges. We had to approach the project with great care, respecting the desires of BMW, director and agency, while also staying true to the company that owns Lil Miquela's IP. This meant that we couldn't make arbitrary changes to her appearance, like altering her body size to match the actress, for example. Finding the right balance took time, and we viewed ourselves as custodians of the IP, aiming to satisfy all stakeholders, which we did truly successfully.
One of the key challenges was not making Lil Miquela appear too real, which required meticulous scrutiny down to the pixel level. We compared the actress side by side with the AI version while overlaying images of Lil Miquela to ensure we stayed faithful to her look.
From a technical standpoint, rendering Lil Miquela on the cloud using our render engine required some conversions, leveraging substantial computing power to generate the 20,000 images used to train the AI model over a period of 2 weeks 24-7 continually learning.
The animation was critical, and DapperLabs provided animation caches to ensure that Lil Miquela's expressions perfectly matched her Instagram version, eliminating potential issues. However, Stefanie's unique filming angles and lenses posed a creative challenge, and achieving consistency required common sense and support from Dapper Labs. In the end, it was a delicate balance between respecting the established Lil Miquela brand and adapting her for this project's specific needs.
LBB> Tell us about developing a new AI face replacement method.
Jordi> Our AI face replacement method was developed on top of the DFL framework, commonly known as Deep Face Lab, which is available in open source. To achieve the high-quality results required for this project, we pushed the method to its limits, introducing several key enhancements:
Custom processing approaches: we incorporated custom processing techniques to enhance image stability and improve overall image quality. These refinements were crucial to ensure that the final images met the project's high standards.
Higher resolution: unlike conventional approaches, we ventured into uncharted territory by rendering images at a much higher resolution. While the standard is 512 pixels, we scaled our renders to an impressive 4K resolution, guaranteeing the quality we aimed for. This involved extra time and effort but produced outstanding results.
A BTS look at how Rohtau matched and replaced Lil Miquela's face
Cloud computing tools: leveraging cloud computing tools, especially on the AWS infrastructure, allowed us to harness the vast computational resources available. This strategic move enabled us to manage the demanding workload efficiently, produce 31 shots at the desired level of quality, and meet the project's demands without any setbacks.
AI model development: the AI model was meticulously crafted through an extensive process, involving more than 3,000,000 training iterations. We generated over 20,000 images at 4Kx4K resolution, capturing Lil Miquela's face under various lighting conditions. This dynamic approach ensured that the AI model remained versatile and adaptable. If the model showed a preference for certain lighting scenarios, we generated additional images to recalibrate it. While this process demanded substantial testing and fine-tuning, the result was a robust and dependable AI model.
Compositing excellence: our compositing process was finely tuned to extract the full potential of our AI-generated images. We put significant effort into enhancing various aspects, such as highlights, eyes, eye reflections, wetness, and nuanced details. This meticulous attention to detail was pivotal in achieving the desired outcome, even in challenging scenarios like extreme close-up shots, where AI facial replacement typically struggles. Our dedication and innovation in compositing contributed to our success in producing high-quality, convincing imagery.
In summary, our approach was a blend of technical innovation, resource utilisation, and meticulous attention to detail, resulting in a groundbreaking AI face replacement method capable of handling even the most challenging scenarios with exceptional quality.
LBB> The car was top secret during production - how did that affect your working process?
Jordi> Due to secrecy constraints of filming an unreleased vehicle, we used a camouflaged iX2 car as a stand-in for all the city shots, both day and night, then we replaced or re-skinned these scenes in post-production.
Creating the CGI car was a meticulous process, as we had to match it with the real car down to the finest details. BMW's paint is known for its sophistication and complex behaviour, which makes the car look exceptional from every angle. Similarly, the car's light clusters possess intricate internal shapes that reflect and refract light in unique ways. Replicating these features was a significant challenge. Nonetheless, we successfully built a true clone of the iX2 for the shots, ensuring accurate positioning and preserving as much of the original car as possible, including the wheels, some windows, and other essential components.
In line with Rohtau's commitment to excellence, we enlisted one of the industry's leading experts in CG car creation, an artist dedicated to crafting CG cars. This decision ensured a smooth process, although it required meticulous attention to detail to achieve this perfection.
LBB> How closely did you work with director Stefanie Soho and Media.Monks on the spot? What was the creative relationship between you like?
Jordi> Our collaboration with, BMW AG, Stefanie and Media.Monks was incredibly close and dynamic. We recognised the importance of maintaining alignment and transparency throughout the project, and to achieve this, we scheduled weekly reviews and live sessions. These sessions covered various aspects, from design decisions to car speeds and the camera movement within the metaverse, metaverse design and redesign and portal inspirations, and of course continued AI face replacement reviews. This regular communication and collaborative spirit among all parties was instrumental in ensuring efficiency and a unified creative vision.
LBB> How many artists worked on the spot and how did your distributed model help to find the best people to execute the right parts?
Jordi> We assembled a team of 28 highly skilled artists from around the world to work on this project, each with a minimum of 15 years of experience in their respective fields. Our distributed model allowed us to tap into a global talent pool, with team members located in various countries, including Canada, the United States (Alaska and New Jersey), Brazil, Seychelles, Spain, France, Armenia, India, the UK, and more. We specifically selected these individuals because they were the best fit for their respective roles, ensuring a faster and more efficient production process.
One thing that also sets us apart is our extensive database of top artists, which we continue to expand. These are individuals whom we've personally worked with, discovered through word of mouth, or whose impressive work has caught our attention. This database enables us to swiftly assemble a skilled bespoke team, even when other studios may struggle to find available talent. This approach allows us to create global teams, like those working simultaneously in Brazil and Alaska, which would be challenging without the strategic systems and tools we've developed.
However, this global approach does place significant demands on our production team, as we operate across time zones. To address this challenge, we've refined our communication systems over the past four years and multiple iterations, ensuring that everyone remains in the loop without overburdening the production process. This global collaboration is a testament to our commitment to delivering exceptional results through an innovative and efficient model.
LBB> What was the most challenging part of working on the spot?
Jordi> The most challenging aspect of working on the spot was ensuring that Lil Miquela's eye lines matched the actress's performance. We dedicated substantial effort to make her eyes appear lifelike and aligned with the actress's expressions, which is a nuanced aspect that AI face replacement techniques and Deep Fakes often struggle to achieve. Additionally, achieving consistent skin tones presented difficulties due to the dramatic variations in lighting throughout the footage. Overcoming these challenges required creative problem-solving and meticulous execution to ensure a seamless, natural and seemingly effortless final result.
LBB> What was your highlight from working on it?
Jordi> My most significant highlight from working on this project is the feeling that we've ushered in a new era. Just as the work on productions like ‘Lord of the Rings’ and Playstation's ‘Mountain’ opened doors to CGI crowds, I believe that BMW's ‘Make it Real’ is pioneering AI face replacement as a solution instead of CGI animation, transcending traditional CGI face replacement. This innovation enables better performance, faster production, cost-effectiveness, and enhanced safety. I'm deeply grateful for the trust placed in us to venture in this groundbreaking direction, and I'm thrilled to see my vision realised even more impressively than I could have imagined. The project's achievements, including close-ups and authentic performances, are truly gratifying.
LBB> Is there anything else you would like to share?
Jordi> In the realm of visual effects, three pillars stand tall: communication, trust, and a sprinkle of adventure, and all are equal. Brands must exhibit the spirit of an adventurer by embracing the wildest briefs from creatives, while we also actively listen to one another. It's about placing trust in those with the expertise to navigate uncharted paths, embracing the journey, and seeking new answers to questions that arise. We would like to thank all those artists, collaborators and partners with a special mention to BMW AG for the trust and allowing us to be part of this incredible adventurous journey.
I guess in today’s world where we all have to think about holistic change we should add that we have embraced this from the bottom up with our entire creative studio engineered on this premise. This allows us to operate with very favourable ESG and low carbon footprints with a total of 1,274.78 kg CO2e measured on this project, where 579.96 kg CO2e comes from Home working, 692.01 kg from shoot attendance of our VFX Supervisor’s travel and accommodation and with only 0.01 kg CO2e coming from the AWS cloud, mainly due to the 100% green energy usage here. As with all our projects the full report is to be published on our website.
We extend a warm invitation to other intrepid creators to connect with us and foster relationships that open doors to the incredible possibilities that the future holds. The future of visual effects is a realm of boundless creativity, and we wholeheartedly encourage you to reach out and embark on this thrilling journey with us. Challenge us to go somewhere new and together, let's dive into the limitless creative horizons that await.
