MPC Creative Releases Trio of Unique VFX-Laden Ads for SF Motors Brand

MPC Creative, a boutique production company, worked directly with SF Motors to launch their brand campaign, showcasing the family of cars, the technology behind them, and the company’s introduction into the US market. The films were featured at the large-scale launch event, which took place at SF Motors’ newly appointed headquarters in San Jose on Wednesday March 28th and was also live-streamed to China.

SF Motors worked directly with MPC Creative to achieve their vision of three unique films that explored the brand, technology and the product, which will go on sale in 2019. MPC Creative’s Executive Producer Dan Sormani, said: “All three films were created fully by us – we crafted the strategy which built into the concepts where we directed, produced and fully executed the films in under two and a half months.”

Each film was spearheaded by a different Creative Director at MPC Creative: Marc Smith directed the brand film which explored the overall company mission, Andrei Juradowitch directed the technology film which showcased the state-of-the-art tech features of the car, and Alan Bibby directed the product film, which acted as the car’s big reveal.

Justin Brukman, Managing Director for MPC US, noted why this project was so important for MPC Creative: “This was an amazing opportunity for the studio – working direct to brand and creating these kind of films are exactly the types of work that MPC Creative is built to do.”

Marc Smith, who has also directed Microsoft’s ‘Holiday Harmony’ and Converse’s ‘Counter Climate’, worked with SF Motors to define the brand message and the script for his brand film. He said: “We really couldn’t have asked for a better brief - we had the opportunity to write our own scripts in partnership with SF Motors’ and it was a very collaborative, trusting process.”. He added: “My film was the emotive set up, and I took the idea that we couldn’t show the car as an opportunity rather than a challenge, focusing more on the human aspect of what SF Motors were trying to achieve and personifying adventure.”

The film centered around emotional, visual storytelling, focusing on the company’s mission to define the future of automated vehicles and to re-invent the way people travel, using metaphors to portray the adventure, performance, safety, sustainability and family elements of the brand - an Olympic hurdler jumping hurdles; cave dwellers exploring their surroundings; a father and his two children camping.

Andrei Juradowitch’s film was shot in a hanger-like space in Jersey City, showcasing the impressive technology against an abstract, design backdrop. Andrei, who has directed Kygo’s ‘Carry Me’ VR experience and Rochester Regional Health’s ‘Next is Now’, wanted to avoid making the film look too clinical and sterile: “The film demonstrates some of the technology on a broad, top level without going into too much detail. Instead, I wanted to focus on the human aspect and putting a face to the people behind the technology.” He added: “We worked closely with the tech department at SF Motors to ensure that the film was a true representation of the car’s technology – we learnt a lot about their vehicles, that’s for sure.”

The innovative technology of SF Motors’ family of cars speaks for itself: it features machine learning technology to make advanced intelligent driving, as well as a protective autonomy technology that actively keeps people and roads safer.

Alan Bibby, whose directing portfolio includes Castrol’s ‘Blackout’ and Google Glass’ ‘Nepal’, directed the final film, which revealed the next-generation EV car in full. It was shot over three days along the hills and coastline of Monterey, using a mule car that was built specifically to be replaced. Bibby said: “As the car hadn’t been built yet, we were checking in with SF Motors to ensure that we were showing every aspect of the car accurately. We wanted to make everything look great, without knowing what the final car actually looked like. The end result was a really beautiful combination of filmmaking and visual effects.” MPC handled the VFX for all three of the films, partnering with MPC Creative to create a fully CG car.

The film tells a story of a mother driving home to her family through the stunning Californian scenery. Bibby explained the aim of the film: “I wanted to show the car in a really dramatic, epic fashion and combine it with the human reasons for why people choose to drive and go places.”

The project saw the directors working closely to create three films that function together but also as stand alone pieces. Bibby said: “One of the reasons SF Motors engaged with us is that we took ownership of the project: from the strategy all the way through to completion, we delivered these three huge, live action films with heavy VFX, knowing that SF Motors had complete trust in us every step of the way.”