MPC’s Epic Spot for Samsung

A fearless viewer faces up to a herd of wildebeest, tyrannosaurus rex and a space age assault in these epic spots, showing the incredible features of Samsung’s new television which can be controlled with voice recognition and motion sensors.  MPC worked closely with director Adam Berg and CHI on a ten day shoot in Cape Town where the team worked with an animal park, racing drivers and set off explosions in the street. 

 

 

Director Adam Berg said, “I had the pleasure of working with MPC on the very VFX heavy ‘King Of TV’ and it was a great experience. It was never going to be an easy job and there was no frame in the film that was not worked on in some capacity- the end result looks great. Looking forward to our next collaboration.”

 

VFX Supervisor Franck Lambertz and CG Supervisor Christopher Antoniou led the team on this ambitious project, harnessing MPC’s talent around the globe. With the majority of the work completed in London, Mark Gethin completed the grade in LA, the 3D department in NY helped to craft the wildebeest and the Bangalore studio assisted with rotoscoping and tracking. Franck said, “This job really showcased what we are capable of as a company. It combined all of our disciplines- concept design for the t-rex and spacecraft, CG and 3D, matte painting, green screen and everything in between. By utilizing our teams across the globe we were able to complete this film and all its jaw dropping action in a relatively short amount of time.” 

 

VFX detail…

 

View a making of below:

 

 

One of the first tasks for the team was to create the setting. Trees were removed from the street and buildings were enhanced to give the look of a generic, modern city. Creating a claustrophobic feel was key to setting up the first piece of action. “We shot a herd of wildebeest on a massive green screen, working in a safari park just out of Cape Town. This was challenging to say the least, as wildebeest aren’t exactly the most co-operative animals!” Franck said. Once enough footage was shot, the team utilized MPC’s proprietary crowd replication software to build the scene. 

 

MPC’s team of concept artists designed the suitably terrifying tyrannosaurus rex, which was then sculpted in 3D using ZBrush. This was vital as it depicted its final shape and form, allowing the team to measure the impact point precisely on the wall. The wall that is destroyed by the creature is part miniature build and part CG.  CG Supervisor Chris continues, “Following the sculpt in ZBrush, we extracted vendor displacement, which allowed us to keep the rig geometry nice and light, in turn making the animators life easier. The t-rex had an automatic tail system, muscles and proprietary jiggle deformers, which was originally developed for MPC’s film pipeline.” The compositing team added debris and saliva to the dinosaur, further adding to the realism.  

 

The racing car shot was captured in camera and driven by real-life racing drivers. The team added the wind effects and composited our protagonist, who was shot on green screen, into the scene- effortlessly blending the shots together. The bear was a puppet, whose rig was removed and had his eyes animated to give him a higher level of anthropomorphism. 

 

To create a great deal of the action, the entire street was shut down for the shoot for several days. The final, epic scene showing a space age assault was a combination of live action and CG magic. Referencing films such as ‘Indendepence Day’ and ‘Alien’, the concept artists turned their hand to designing the mothership and UFO crafts. These were then fully produced in 2D and Maya. As the crafts start to shoot fireballs, MPC’s extensive element library was utilised to add to the flame and smoke effects. 

 

The car flipping onto its side during the action was captured in camera, as were a great deal of the explosions and fireballs, then further enhanced in Maya. Five cameras were used, mounted on buildings and cars to help capture the epic scene. 

 

MPC’s Motion Design studio was enlisted to create the television interface and end shot. The interface was created in After Effects, then composited into the TV itself in Flame. 

 

The grade was completed by Mark Gethin, who helped to seamlessly capture the changes in mood and atmosphere. 

 

Credits

 

Agency: CHI & partners

 

Executive Creative Director: Jonathan Burley

Art Director: Alexei Berwitz

Copywriter: Rob Webster

Planners: Anthony Cox and Oli Egan

Agency Producer: Alex Nicholson

Account Handlers: Christian Hinchcliffe and Ana Saffer

Media Agency: Starcom

Media Planner: Erica Chen Director: Adam Berg

Production Company: Stink

Production Company Executive Producer: Ben Croker

DOP: Mattias Montero

Audio Post Production: Jungle Studios

Editor: Paul Hardcastle (Trim)

 

 

VFX: MPC

VFX Producer: Chris Allen

VFX Supervisor: Franck Lambertz

CG Supervisor: Christopher Antoniou

Sequence Supervisor: Mark Gregory

VFX Team: Tom Carrick, David Picarda, Brice Lehmann, Yosuke Matsuno, Bevis Jones, Oliver Caiden, Stefan Susemihl, Daniel Cowley, David Singer, Jama Djurabaev, Levente Peterffy, Adam Leary, Melanie Keyzor, Jan Sladecko

 

Grade: Mark Gethin