With A Twist Gives Pontiac Plenty of Options

[Stryker]

Studio’s CG Cars Used to Showcase Vast Option Packages Available on New Vehicles

(Oct 18 2006) - With A Twist Studio, with offices in Los Angeles and Detroit, applied its expertise in creating photorealistic CG cars to a new campaign for Pontiac highlighting the almost limitless choices the automaker offers for customizing its vehicles.

Three new spots, conceived by Leo Burnett, Detroit, and produced by Los Angeles design and production studio Logan, reveal Pontiac G5, G6 and Torrent models floating in space. As the camera swoops around the vehicles, their colors and features magically change. The cars and SUVs are also bathed in a shower of iridescent bubbles adorned with human faces. “The Pontiac G6 Series,” notes the voiceover in one spot, “offers more combinations of options and accessories than there are drivers in America.”

With A Twist created all of the vehicles that appear in the spots as fully 3D objects. Logan placed the CG cars into the black environment and created the camera moves and transitional effects. “Using CG cars made it possible to create camera moves that would have been difficult or impossible to accomplish through practical means,” explained With A Twist visual effects supervisor David Burton. “In some cases, the camera passes directly through the roof of the car and explores the interior.”

The task for With A Twist’s CG artists was immense. Not only were they required to model and texture the exteriors and interiors of each of the featured vehicles, they also had to create CG replicas of all of the various options pictured in the spots. “There was an incredible amount of detail,” noted CG Supervisor Brandon Bartlett. “We created tire mattes and applied them to the cars so it is possible to identify the particular make and model. We also recreated the headlights and taillights.”

Lighting the vehicles was a particular challenge. “It is always difficult to create dynamic lighting when you’re working with a black environment,” Bartlett observed. “In this case, we were often working with black cars in a black environment. In order to give it some dynamism, we went with a look that was very slick and liquidy. That not only made the cars look great, it made it easier to create seamless transitions to show the changing features.”

Time was also a challenge. With only three weeks to deliver the dozens of CG elements required for the spot, With A Twist employed artists from both of its locations. “Having two locations was an advantage on this project to begin with as the agency was based in Detroit and the production company was in California,” said With A Twist executive producer Pam Hammarlund. “It also helped us work more efficiently. We worked split shifts, which, added to the time difference between California and Michigan, allowed us to maintain a virtual round the clock effort. If the agency or the production company needed something, there was always someone available to help them.”

Credits:
Length: 30-seconds
Client: Pontiac
Agency: Leo Burnett, Detroit. Tor Myhren, CCO; Jeff Cruz, creative director; Brad Mancuso, art director; Kristin Redman, head of broadcast; Freddie Richards, producer.
Production: Logan, Venice, CA.
Editorial: Logan, Venice, CA.
CG: With A Twist Studio, Detroit & Los Angeles. David Burton, visual effects supervisor; Pam Hammarlund, executive producer; Brandon Bartlett CG Supervisor; Matt Hammarlund, Paul LaFond, Matt Nowacki, Ryan Romans, Frank Synowicz, CG artists, Bailey McFarlan, render wrangler.
Music: “Gold” by Klee.

With A Twist Studio
With A Twist Studio has locations at 1713 Lincoln Boulevard, Venice, California 90291 (310)210-4802, and 1773 Star Batt Drive, Rochester Hills, Michigan 48309. For more information, call (248) 844-0044 or visit www.withatwiststudio.com.