How Taylor James Electrified an Iconic Brand
The Ford Motor Company remains at the forefront of pioneering vehicle manufacturing with the introduction of the New Explorer model. Simultaneously staying true to Ford’s American roots and designed for Europe, this new model demonstrates how the brand is embracing the new era of electric, following their pledge to offer an entirely electric portfolio of passenger vehicles by 2030.
Specialising in tech-solutioned content creation and studio/virtual production for brands worldwide, Taylor James were the obvious creative partners for Ford Europe to collaborate with on the launch of the all-new, all-electric Ford Explorer.
Working in collaboration with Imagination London and Ford Europe, Taylor James ensured the debut unveiling of the vehicle would capture its boundless potential and “adventure-ready design”. This motif was personified by the adventurous spirit of Lexie Alford, travel influencer and world record title holder of Youngest Person to Travel to Every Country. With Lexie behind the wheel of the electrified Ford Explorer, the road to adventure has never felt more compelling.
Bolstered by the limitless possibilities of Unreal Engine, Taylor James’ team created a hyper realistic environment, using 3DsMax to render the high-spec technical details of the electric vehicle. Following the successful launch, creative director, David Cox, tells LBB how Taylor James’ Automotive Division of experts executed Ford’s future-forward concept from start to finish.
LBB> What was your team’s initial approach at the very start of the creative process?
David Cox> Our Automotive Team was given the opportunity to collaborate with Imagination London and Ford Europe to create the key vehicle reveal animations for the launch of the new Ford Explorer. Teaming up with director, Nick Piper, we would be handling the important task of revealing the vehicle to the world for the very first time. The idea for the reveal was to show the vehicle building up around world explorer, Lexie Alford.
We developed a unique approach for the creation of our Full CGI running footage by combining multiple pipelines. Our innovative approach involved using artists in different physical locations with skills in different software packages. This means we could deliver high-quality visuals while maintaining creative flexibility.
LBB> This Ford Explorer model is an all-new all-electric vehicle – how did you work with the director and agency to ensure the finished film was every bit as cutting-edge as the product itself?
David> Our team followed a unique and meticulous creative and technical process. Collaborating with Nick, the agency, and client we were able to create a visually pleasing animation showing the vehicle being built around Lexie.
LBB> How did you work with director, Nick Piper, to tackle the different aspects of the animation process?
David> The reveal animations were part of a much longer keynote presentation (directed by Nick and developed by Imagination) and our task was to use some of the same elements of the rest of the film within our work to deliver high-quality animations which integrated into the wider narrative and aesthetics. This included using the same Unreal Environment, working with Nick on capturing live action, and collaborating with Nick, Imagination, and Ford on the design of the vehicle build up.
LBB> Can you tell us a bit about the live action shoot and the process of building the CG elements around the live action footage of Lexie?
David> There was a slate of shoot days lined up for the overall vehicle launch keynote and within that timeframe there was about a day allocated to capturing Lexie on a green screen for our portion of the film. Our team provided on-set VFX Supervision during the shoot and worked in pre-production to advise on what touch points we needed to capture for Lexi. We, ultimately, ended with her sitting in a physical seat and reaching out to touch a propped up steering wheel as our base footage to work from. We then took the raw footage and camera data from the shoot day and began the next steps of the process to integrate with CGI.
LBB> How did you split the post production and CGI phases of the project into different pipelines?
David> The post team were tasked with roto-ing out Lexie, beginning to build the timeline with a boardamatic, and starting to clean-up live action in Flame. While we had the CG lighting and environment teams further refining the scene based upon what was captured on-set. I worked with Nick, the CG leads and the agency to refine camera movements and vehicle build-up sequences.
There were many rounds of review and a ton of collaboration required to get all these elements to their final state. With a tight timeline, and budget, the collaborative work with Nick, Imagination, and our teams spread across Europe and the Americas allowed this project to come together on schedule for the vehicle reveal.
LBB> What was the idea for the cinematic environment? And how did Unreal Engine help you achieve this?
David> Once the project had been launched we created an environmental cinematic that showcased some of the beauty that can be made from this vast landscape. This is to help clients engage in a different way with the assets they have created. We are demonstrating that we can create moods, vignettes, even environmental b-roll using their existing assets. These types of clips can be cut into the main film as that little extra flourish to finish off the project. We utilised Unreal Engine to develop our environment, lighting, and cameras allowed the creative flexibility to rapidly develop and modify the environment.
LBB> How did Taylor James add value to this campaign? In what ways is your team best positioned to take on large scale automotive projects?
David> The work required intense attention to detail and scrutiny of all production aspects to maintain the consistency required across pipelines. Our unique approach to developing the assets allowed for a truly transformative approach which allowed us to deliver high-quality within a very tight timeline. Being able to pivot quickly and rapidly address changes, all without sacrificing quality, meant the client, director, and agency also did not need to sacrifice on their wants and needs for their extremely important launch film. This is the key benefit of our unique approach to creating the launch film for the Ford Explorer which seamlessly integrated live-action and CGI.
