LONDON — MPC recently provided VFX services for Volkswagen’s “Born Confident” campaign, which includes a new :60 hero spot directed by Nick Gordon at Somesuch. The commercial opens with the birth of a young ram, delivered by a shepherd and his son on a dark and rainy evening. The little ram has a full set of horns, giving him the confidence to wreak playful havoc from day 1, leading his herd of sheep, standing up to a sheep dog, and intimidating a bull. But when the ram encounters the new Volkswagen T-Roc, he realizes that he has finally met his match.
The ram is fully CG and was crafted by the MPC team, in collaboration with Adam&EveDDB in London and DDB Berlin/Hamburg. MPC’s artists crafted the photoreal character, harnessing the expertise and learnings of its ‘Life’ team from across the studio, including the Jungle Book team in MPC Film.
Carsten Keller, MPC’s 3D creative director says, “We needed to create a baby ram with life-like proportions, staying true to physical anatomy. To make him feel real, subtlety was key. Push the animation and ‘acting’ too hard, and you instantly lose believability – the emotion and storytelling in ‘Born Confident’ comes from our little hero’s elegant and confident posing, with no need for buffed-up, oversized muscles.”
Using in-house software developed for photoreal creature work, MPC’s Life team mastered the tricky balance of crafting a charming photoreal character without slipping into cartoon-like animation.
Watch the spot and its breakdown HERE.
