Nissan Turns Drivers into Action Movie Stars with 'Agent 23'

This week in Dubai, Nissan set out to disrupt the modern-day auto show with a world first. Often traditional auto companies show up to "debut" - a new immersive technology in the hopes of creating some buzz, in other words, falling into the “VR FOR PR” trap.

Nissan decided to do it differently, seamlessly blending physical and digital worlds to craft an experience that show-goers wouldn't ever forget.

Using the all-new Nissan Patrol – the hero of all terrains, a legendary SUV that makes any driver feel like a star - Nissan went a step further to actually MAKE these drivers a star for a day, giving the more than 1,000+ lucky Auto Show visitors the chance to play the part of ‘Agent 23” alongside the Patrol in their very own James Bond-style thriller movie trailer and film poster, fully produced, rendered and sharable in real time.

Nissan teamed up with Nissan United, supported by TBWA, UNIT9 and DAN, to create the most advanced execution of user-generated content ever, building a real-time, cinema-quality portable production studio, that blends digital and physical worlds. 

Filmed in front of a giant blue screen, the only real prop was the Nissan Patrol itself.  By leveraging breakthrough movie standard robotic camera technology, live rendering and cinematic content, the activation delivered a tangible, highly sharable, immersive experience, with emotional, storytelling at its core.

The Directors' vision

UNIT9 directors Horton de Rakoff used the desert location and initial script to create a showdown/face-off, where two enemies (one of whom is you, the user) meet in the desert as if for a gunfight in a western movie.  

“We developed a visual and musical language to build-out the structure and dynamics of the story until it made sense as a trailer, story vignette and a commercial featuring two Nissan cars.

The cinematography for the user elements was conceived to consider the considerable challenges of compositing and blue screening with a reflective car, a non-actor star and an ideal timeline to get the user through the experience.

Taking different user heights and other variables into account, we used the Nissan car (and some Apple boxes) to situate the user and gave them simple physical actions to perform to which they could bring their personality and some fun to.”

How did UNIT9 do it?

UNIT9 used a fully automated pipeline, cinema quality camera equipment, and a real motion control rig as used in countless Hollywood films to capture the footage of the participants. This footage was then graded and spliced into the movie trailer starring the user, along with titles featuring their name, and automatically uploaded to YouTube.

Credits

Director: Horton De Rakoff

Producer: Martin Jowers

Film Producer: Aurelien Simon

Executive Producer: Carolyn Appleton

Technical Lead: Paul Lavery

VFX Supervisor: Chris Vincze

3D Artist: Zlaten del Castillo

DOP: Alex Metcalfe

Film Acquisition Technician: Louis Mustill 

Film Acquisition Developer: Aaron Smith 

OSX Developer: Dylan Turney  

Backend Developer: Krzysztof Skoracki 

Film PM: Kane Phillips, Kassiani Koufaki, Carson Wan 

Technician: Andrej Savcic