Rushes Mends Dents in Double Time in CGI Heavy LV= Spot

Working closely with agency Designate and Dirty Films director Eli Sverdlov, the creative team at Rushes has completed the new LV= commercial Make It Better. Extensive VFX and CG elements were employed to realise the spot, which shows a family in their damaged car being carried by hot air balloons to an LV= repair factory, whilst a team of fun quirky animated robots and machines quickly and efficiently mend the car and put back on the road.

Being involved from the outset of the project allowed the Rushes team to contribute creatively in realising the vision of director Eli Sverdlov. Over the course of 10 weeks Rushes worked closely in collaboration with Designate and the Director; providing extensive concept-design, on-set supervision and art direction, through to CG and VFX work and on to final delivery. All creative departments, resources and skillsets were utilised to bring the LV= repair factory to life.

Barry Corcoran, Design Lead says: “From the beginning it was clear that we had to create characters that sat into a world full of charm and warmth. We were asked to come up with something different and decided to move away from the common iterations we’ve seen of robot designs and strip things back to something simpler, with a retro look and feel. The shapes and overall form of the robots were obviously important, though we wanted to move away from anything too futuristic, we also did not wish to create anything too steampunk or fussy in style.” 

Andy McNamara, CG Supervisor continues: “Above all, the design ethos was to lend some quirky humour to the spot and give it a fun friendly vibe that would come across in the performance of the robots. We created a ‘family’ of robots full of individual traits yet shared characteristics that sat into a world full of charm and warmth. We chose elegant shapes and simple materials to give a clean look but with a nod to some of retro-futuristic styling of the 50’s and 60’s.”

The design of the interior space of the repair factory was of great importance. Rushes worked with the director and agency to find a suitable location that would form the backdrop for the whole spot. In the iconic Valencia building L’Hemispheric, they found the perfect location - a beautiful interior space with amazing light and shade. After the shoot, the space was then heavily augmented with CGI to give the impression of a massive factory, populating it with conveyors, cogs and machinery, within a consistent clean visual style.

Matte painting and CG set extensions allowed control of the space and populate the scenes full of charming robots. Intricate and detailed animation allowed artists to breathe more character into the robotic family as the characters travelled through the friendly space before finishing their journey. 

All elements were then seamlessly composited by Rushes highly skilled Nuke and Flame team before the finishing grade was applied.

The TV ad will be supported with a full campaign including six sheets, inserts, ad gates and online activity.