Animal Logic purposely created the piggy banks without mouths, leaving their eyes as the primary feature for expression.
The pigs have a glossy ceramic texture to them, yet move with complete fluidity. Lighting helps to enhance the effects and technical director Jeremy Pronk developed an HDR lighting tool, named ImageLight, that reads the relative intensities of light points on an object. It then creates intelligent spotlights in the 3D environment that are directed to the correct spots on the 3D bank models.
Massive software was used to create the aerial crowd shots of the pigs as they converge on the valley and swim across a lake. For the swimming shot, lead compositor Leoni Willis submerged the 3D pigs into live action water plates, added reflections and splashes, and re-timed and offset their action to create the illusion they were swimming at different speeds. Willis also created and tracked 2D effects such as day, dusk and night skies; layers of clouds; landscapes; building enhancements; and reflections.
Nerissa Kavanagh served as VFX producer for Animal Logic. Scott Hunter supervised the shoot and served as 3D lead. The Bank of New Zealand campaign was conceived by Y&R in New Zealand and consists of a series of six commercials.