ZOIC ANIMATES 'EDDIE' FOR NISSIN
Zoic Studios served as a creative partner with the agency, not only developing the animated Eddie character, but also oversee the commercial's production as a whole. The studio worked from the agency's written character biography and general photo references, hiring designers to produced distinctly different pencil sketches. These designs were then honed in collaboration with the Dentsu America's creative team.
Bully Pictures' Craig Tanimoto directed live action for the commercial and Zoic's Loni Peristere served as director of animation.
Zoic's VFX supervisor Les Ekker attended the voiceover session with Hong and shot video so Image Metrics' technology could later be used to extract the facial motion. Hong's face, neck and hands were photographed using a custom camera with a polarized lighting rig built by Zoic's Ekker and CG supervisor Andy Wilkoff. Details, such as hair and clothing movement, were created with simulations.
VFX editing and the final Flame finish took place at Zoic. The studio also animated the Nissin logo at the end of the spot.