Hasta La Motion!

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/head_olay_thumb.jpg”]18373[/NEWS]New York-based Headlight Design + VFX Animation Director John Clausing and VFX Director Steve Zourntos, along with a team of artists go fathoms deep for Olay’s newest spot for their Ribbons brand of body washes. This dazzling underwater spot courtesy of Saatchi & Saatchi showcases the power of Olay moisture in a dazzling display of underwater choreography and VFX that’s as stimulating to the eyes as Olay moisture ribbons are to thirsty skin. The challenge was to really bring the ribbons to life while maintaining the soft, beautiful quality of chiffon underwater.

Comments from Headlight:
The agency had developed the concept of the underwater woman with a ribbon and had featured it in other body wash campaigns. In previous spots, however, the ribbons had a more passive role; for Zeros In, the goal was to bring in a new level of `artificial intelligence’ (a term coined by director Sue Worthy) to the ribbons.

They were on a mission – seek out and target dry skin areas – so our challenge was to really bring the ribbons to life while maintaining the soft, beautiful quality of chiffon underwater. The process required complex fabric simulation and adapting traditional location techniques to an underwater environment.

Depth and caustic lighting passes were necessary to really sell the idea that everything existed in this underwater world. We worked very closely with both Saatchi art director Lisa Bet and director Sue Worthy in creating just the right look and feel of our ribbons.

For the product demo sequence, we were very involved from the beginning. We had to communicate that the product is made up of two separate creams, so we designed a demo that seamlessly transitions from the underwater world into the inside of the actual product. The objective was to illustrate that the pink fabric featured in the main body of the spot was a metaphor for the pink moisturizing liquid contained within the Olay body wash.

Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, XSI, and Flame were used for the design, animation and compositing of the ribbons and demo. On-set VFX supervision was also provided for the tank shoot at London’s Pinewood Studios.

About Headlight:
New York-based Headlight Design + VFX is a creative, award-winning design, VFX, animation, and full service production company specializing in commercials, music videos, emerging media, feature and long-format clientele. Headlight’s recent projects include: creating show opens for CBS’s Kid Nation, ABC’s Men in Trees, 3D worlds for Ogilvy’s American Express Lost campaign, and executing the VFX for Vidal Partnership’s Sprint Holiday campaign.

The Creds:
Client: P&G/Olay Ribbons Body Wash
Spot Title: Zeros In
Air Date: October 2008

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
EVP/Executive CD: Beverly Okada
SVP/CD: Hy Abady
Art Director: Lisa Bet
EP: Liz Sloane

Prod Company: Home Corp.
Director: Sue Worthy
DP: Adrian Wilde
Producer: Alex Hedges

Editorial: 89 Edit
Editor: Dave Bradley
EP: Bob Cagliero
Producer: Juliet Conti

Telecine: Nice Shoes NY
Colorist: Lez Rudge

Post/Effects: Headlight
VFX Director: Steve Zourntos
Animation Director: John Clausing
AD/Designer: Tico Kanzaki
3D Animator(s): Eric Lampi, Domel Libid, Eddy Estevez
Compositor(s): Ariel Altman, Jeremiah Moorehead
Head of Production: Lana Aklilu

Audio Post: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Keith Reynaud