How Untold Studios Turned Horses into Bears on Coors Mountain
Untold Studios and Havas have teamed up to deliver Coors’ ‘Keep It Fresh’ attitude across the UK through their newest multi-channel, multi-million-pound campaign, inspired from the beer’s Mountain Cold Refreshment and Rocky Mountains heritage. The film features a set of friends on the fictional Coors Mountain and is directed by Untold Studios’ DIARMID.
We see the group trekking to a party, when the main character decides to take the easy way and order a fresh ride for them - a pack of bears. According to DIARMID, the brief was very clear from the get-go: “It had to be funny and relatable, but at the same time utterly extraordinary. While the twists and turns of the journey and how the story unfolds evolved, the core idea of an ‘epic fresh ride’ was solid from the start. For me, it was all about the right balance of pairing world-class visuals with the familiar comedy of that moment when you’re getting ready for a big night out with your mates.”
The complexity of the VFX was just as epic as the ride - because the bears were actually horses, and the approach was to shoot the cast on location, riding them with modified saddles, then replacing them with photorealistic bears in post.
LBB’s Zoe Antonov spoke to DIARMID, Untold Studios’ CG supervisor Sebastian Cadwell and VFX producer Ella Glazer to find out more about the making of the bears, the scouting of the locations and the funniest moments on set.
LBB> What was the creative relationship between yourselves, Coors and Havas like and have you worked together before?
DIARMID> This was my first time working with either Havas or Coors. There was a really collaborative and trusting relationship established from the start. To be honest, on a project like this, you would not get very far without this. My approach was to avoid shooting in a studio and try and capture as much as possible for real on location in the mountains. This was not the easy option but I had complete support.
Sebastian> On such a complex VFX project, it’s important that everyone is on the same page creatively. Coors, Havas and Untold were fully collaborative throughout. Input from VFX early in the process certainly helped achieve a better result. Allowing all aspects to be carefully considered, from shooting requirements to visual language, to CG bears, even discussions of what to do if weather didn’t play ball… which proved to be very important! That, paired with a good level of trust throughout the project, allowed us to focus on our craft to really ensure the bears looked as good as the film deserves.
Ella> This was my first time working with both Coors and Havas too and it’s safe to say we enjoyed a collaborative and trusting process which made the project all the more fun. We were given the breathing room to experiment and push the boundaries - and it always helps when you work with a lovely bunch of people! We had lots of initial sessions before we got into the full swing of VFX production where we presented our ideas and approach, including things like building a character for each of the bears. Both Havas and Coors were totally on board and it felt very inclusive as everyone had a chance to input their own ideas.
LBB> Tell me about the Coors Mountain and its creation - where is the actual location, how did the scouting go?
DIARMID> We shot on location in the mountains of Slovenia and Austria. The initial scout focused entirely on Slovenia and we found some great locations but unseasonably warm temperatures and disappearing snow meant we had to quickly think of a plan B, which was Austria. I wanted to capture the feeling of an epic journey. I needed snowy forests, but also big mountain vistas above the tree line and of course a really impressive destination for the party at the end. We ended up shooting in some pretty inaccessible locations to achieve this.
For example, the party location was in Slovenia at an altitude of 2260m. We experienced freezing subzero temperatures, hot sun and heavy snowfall. These challenges and the sense of adventure transmitted across to everyone involved, from the client and the crew to the cast. Everyone felt like they were part of something special and I really think this comes across in the final film too.
LBB> What was your casting process like and what were you looking for in your talent?
DIARMID> I wanted a group of friends with real chemistry between them but also for each character to have a strong identity and individual vibe. The film portrays a moment where the ordinary meets the extraordinary. So firstly, the friendship group has to feel real. Additionally, I was looking for a great comedic performance. Not big comedy, but subtle and underplayed, where a quick glance or a look says it all. And then, to make things harder, they also need to have experience riding a horse. With casting being so important, it isn’t surprising we went to the wire making sure we got it right.
LBB> Tell me about the bears - how did you create them and what were the challenges?
DIARMID> In order to achieve this ‘epic fresh ride’ where we see humans riding on bears, we knew the bears had to be crafted in CGI and as realistically as possible so the whole thing felt authentic. The production approach was to shoot the cast on location riding horses with modified saddles to represent the wider girth of the bears. The lighting, the movement, the performance are all real in camera. There is just the small matter of replacing the horses with bears!
Creating photorealistic creatures and animals is still one of the hardest challenges, but the VFX team at Untold Studios are world class and excel at this kind of work. It is an attention to every detail that really brings these bears to life. Their movement, the wobble of their fat and muscles, their fur and the snow caught in it, the integration of the riders on them. Having worked together on many projects there is a creative shorthand that is invaluable.
Sebastian> Untold Studios are one of the industry leaders when it comes to creating photoreal creatures. Bears are especially challenging, creating one bear is tricky, let alone three! To start with, we enhanced our fur and creature FX workflows to allow for such technically complicated creatures. We then worked closely with DIARMID to conceptualise the bears. Each bear (Lorenzo, Tony and Amy) were given their own personality to either complement or juxtapose the accompanying rider. We also created sudo-casting profiles to help brief the team with how each one of these bears will look and feel on screen.
The VFX team created all three bears from scratch. The bears have multiple variations of unique fur, sitting over muscle, fat and skin which in motion wobbles and moves dynamically. In this instance, we also had to consider snow integration and, of course, the interaction with the cast. We needed to recreate each one of these elements in CG. All of them are intrinsic to creating a photoreal creature, if one fails or is missing the viewer doesn’t buy it.
LBB> To what detail did you want to go with the bears and how did you manage to hit the right spot between realism and uncanny valley?
DIARMID> My general rule is don’t make a CG animal do something a real one wouldn’t do. Obviously there are exceptions - like giving humans a ride up a mountain. But in terms of performance, animation and expression, I will always try and find a reference from nature that conveys the emotion I need rather than taking inspiration from human behaviour and expression. Animals are funny for real and we always like to project and attribute human emotions to their behaviour. In the same way that we cast actors in the human roles we go through a similar casting process with the bears. We build a character and look for each of the bears from reference videos and stills.
Sebastian> To make the bears feel like they’re living and breathing in the world, we were really keen to have the technical aspects of the CG bears tie in with their character profiles.
For example, the darker bear (Tony) has more wobble in his skin to make it feel a little saggier so he’s interpreted as slightly older. As always, we focused on the nuances, paying close attention to a selection of key references. We modelled areas of highly detailed skin around the face and claws, gave each bear their own walking style and emotions, groomed each section of hair individually, simulated the motion of the muscles and fur, and created a dynamic snow system that allowed the flakes to scatter in the fur, and added a layer of ground snow for kick up and foot prints.
As DIARMID says, it’s usually not a good idea to make a CG animal do something it wouldn’t do in real life. Real bears are very expressive so it’s very easy to over do the animation and fall into anthropomorphism. We paid extra attention to a selection of references from DIARMID that he felt demonstrated the performances he was looking for. We found that the animation was much less broad strokes, and more focused on the minutiae of bear expressions in order to remain believable.
LBB> What was the feedback process like on the bears?
Ella> It goes without saying that we are extremely privileged to be able to work so closely with DIARMID, one of our in-house directors who is an expert in his field and has such an esteemed VFX background. With our close relationship, we were able to dig into the nuances and tiny details that create such believable and engaging bears with our world class VFX team. In terms of our feedback on the bears with Havas and Coors, we were incredibly lucky to have their full trust in the process. It was such a delight watching everyone’s faces the first time they saw rendered bears after weeks of greyscale animation. When you start to see the project come together and the agency and client can see that they were right to trust us, it’s extremely rewarding.
LBB> Tell me about the role of the beaver and how it was created!
DIARMID> I love the beaver. He’s the comic antithesis of the heroic bears. An utterly ludicrous ride for any human, let alone Frank (part of the cast) who is well over six foot tall. Again, it feels like the beaver is in conversation with Frank, but this is just some great sound design and naturalistic beaver behaviour. The beaver shots were achieved with a clever mix of stock footage, some footage we shot and a sprinkling of VFX magic.
LBB> Can you tell us more about the horses you shot that were turned into bears? What was it like working with them?
DIARMID> The horses and their wranglers were amazing, utterly unfazed by anything. There is an unpredictability to working with animals that can be challenging but is also wonderful. If we had the cast riding mechanical rigs in a studio, all the movement would have been pre-programmed and none of the spontaneity of three horses riding together through the snow. Once we had identified a location, a lot of prep work had to be done to ensure the snow was properly compacted and safe for the horses. We were lucky because we had some heavy snowfall which beautifully covered the shots with a fresh coating of snow.
It’s funny because it is one thing saying you have riding experience on your casting tape, it’s quite another thing riding a horse with a giant furry bear saddle through deep snow up the side of a mountain, so we had to constantly adapt to ensure our talent felt confident and we could get the best performance.
Sebastian> In pre-production, VFX worked closely with DIARMID and the Untold production team, looking into the approach for shooting the cast. Typically you’d shoot the cast riding a motion controlled gimbal but the high alpine shooting locations didn’t allow for that - plus DIARMID felt the authenticity of shooting in the mountains would be lost if we shot in a studio. We delved deep into how bears move and walk. We found horses were the best option as they have similar proportions when combined with some saddle adaptations. Their plod (especially over rough ground) is close to a bear’s, plus there was the added benefit that the DoP immediately had something to frame up against.
LBB> Were there any funny moments on set?
DIARMID> Anything can seem funny now we’re safely back home and the job is finished. The fickle weather of the mountains, cast falling off their horse into deep snow drifts, utterly uncooperative beavers… But just like any shoot I’ve ever done, at the time, the dominant experience is one of intense focus and fatigue. It was all worth it in the end though!
LBB> Why was this campaign so well aligned with the Coors brand?
DIARMID> Coors is a brand that just gets comedy, and this campaign continues that relationship. They are also a brand who believe in doing things differently and this campaign is literally the embodiment of that idea. I give a lot of credit to them for how much trust and creative freedom they gave us to make this film in the way we wanted to. You can’t be too cautious if you want to make these kinds of films.
