Continuing the MiO Watering Hole campaign, Psyop once again proves their prowess in character sculpture and non-mocap animation with the piece, “Nose Job“.
From Psyop:
Avoiding the mechanical output that often comes with traditional motion capture techniques, Psyop instead interpreted the live action performances, translating them into the world of the spot. This gave Psyop’s animators creative freedom to sculpt performances and massage comedic timing.
The spot’s lush look is the result of a novel approach to production that effectively dissolves the line between live action and animation.
“Approaching a full CG spot with a live action mentality led us to an entirely new place,” said Creative Director Eben Mears of Psyop.
Instead of shooting live action video plates on set, Psyop shot high resolution stills. These still images were then projected onto 3D geometry, creating a virtual set into which the 3D characters were later composited.
“There was a huge time savings in doing things this way,” explains Jon Saunders, Creative Director at Psyop. “We didn’t have to worry about tracking live action plates and getting our 3D cameras to match that movement. We just did all our camera moves in 3D and relied on our team of lighters and compositors to sell the look—which they did with flying colors.”
Additionally, expertly modeled anthropomorphism, rhinoplasty, and hump augmentation, should make this spot a particular favorite of those Motionographer readers who trade in plastic surgery.
Read more at the MiO Facebook page.
Related: MiO “Cheetah” (includes extensive process info)
Credits
Client: MiO Energy
Agency: TAXI, New York
Executive Creative Director: Dave Clemans
Creative Director: Stephen Leps, Michael Pierantozzi
Copywriter: Tim Wassler
Art Director: Phillip Cho
Producer: Joyce Lee, Holly Flaisher
Director: Psyop
Production Company: Psyop/Smuggler
Psyop Creative Directors: Eben Mears and Jon Saunders
Executive Producer: Lydia Holness
Producer: Michael Neithardt
Assistant Producer: Anu Nagaraj
Designer: Naomi Chen, Ram Bhat, Annalisa Swank
Lead 3D Artist: Pakorn Bupphavesa, Alvin Bae
Lighting Lead: Jonah Friedman
Lead Animator: Pat Porter
Lead Nuke Artist: Nick Tanner
3D Artists: Zed Bennett jr., Bryan Eck, Dave Chen, Joerg Liebold, Shant Ergenian, Andy Hara, Will Robertson, John Payne, Phill Avanzato, Denis Kozyrev, Larry (Ngai Man) Leung, Dan Fine
3D Animators: Stephanie Russell, Anthony Travieso, Kevin Scott, Douglas Litos, Danny Speck, William Frazier
Nuke Artist: Thomas Panayiotou, Jason Conradt
Editor: Cass Vanini
Storyboard Artist: Robin Nishio