Velvet for Mattoni

UPDATE: :60 QuickTime version has replaced previous link

Munich-based Velvet Mediendesign oversaw some liquid simulation magic for this astouding Mattoni spot. Sure, it’s pure eye candy—and as a seductive ad for arguably one of the most boring products on the planet (i.e. good ol’ H2O), I think it works splendidly.

According to the details on Velvet’s site:

…the designer wrote their own fluid simulation force in Maya […] The designer then combined several passes of particles in Houdini, created a water surface, and rendered it out using an animated version of Hana as a holdout for reflections and refractions. The resulting particles were then deformed and transformed into liquid surfaces in Houdini, and rendered in Houdini’s Mantra renderer, using the physically based mode.

Additional splashes were done in Real Flow. In order to get such a perfect adaption to the model, Hana was created as a 3D body-scan. In the compositing, some real water layers were combined with the artistic 3d water.

The shooting was performed on 35 mm in 2 long night-shoots in Carlsbad.

It goes on from there, but I want to know who this anonymous “designer” is. I’ve asked for full credits, so hopefully we’ll get an answer soon.

UPDATE: The “designer” mentioned above is Black Mountain Studios VFX, located in Stuttgart. Full credits can be found below.

The basic concept for the ad may seem familiar if you’ve seen these print ads starring Ipanema Gisele Bundchen. Obviously, this Mattoni spot takes the idea into a new dimension—namely, the fourth.

And am I alone in feeling that there isn’t a resolution high enough to do this spot justice? ;-)

You can also watch a :30 cutdown of the spot on the official Mattoni site.

Thanks to Miguel A. Salek for the nudge on this one.

credits: client: mattoni karlovarksé minerální vody, a.s.
agency: mpg srl., italy
creative director: dario mondonico
copywriter: antonio pinter

production: cow & boys, italy
producer: fred turchetti, stefano patrizzi & carlo giudice
direcotr: matthias zentner
dop: torsten lippstock

post: velvet
editor: jochen kraus
producer: julian büchner & gustaf richter
vfx: black mountain studios
vfx supervisor: andreas illenseer
td´s: daniel stern & abdelkareem abonamus
artists: enrico seiler, stephan habel, christian mumba, tobias ott, adam wasierski & nico conte
music: eartha kitt
service production : czech connection