Out Of This World

Compiled by Christine Wong, 1 March 2009

The Skinny
In a strange twist of events, a project originally meant for production and completion in Dubai found its way to the animation and audio team at Digipost Vietnam. The search for a capable team to undertake the task stretched over three months but the final product proved once and for all, that the search paid off.
The concept called for a fully animated 30-second TV commercial featuring the elements of nature in a coordinated play of football. Earth, wind and fire transform into surreal footballers passing the ball, in a series of dramatic and precise kicks. The ball flies off planet earth and is return-kicked by the sun-fire striker. The entirely animated project had to be created from scratch in six weeks.
The key idea of the TV spot for Toshiba's premium line of LCD TV, REGZA was to dramatically convey the brand's latest advanced technology, breaking barriers and setting a new benchmark in viewing experience. It had to be big, bold and dramatic.
Leon Loukeris, director of 3D and his team at Digipost, tasked with developing the TVC wasted no time in getting to the kickoff.
The Production
The 3D team consisting of artists from Digipost offices in Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia assembled in Ho Chi Minh City.
The diverse team consisted of eight animators of six different nationalities. "It was challenging for all of us. With different cultures and mentalities together in team, we proved that we could deliver a quality commercial under such a tight schedule," said Lourkeris, director of 3D.
As time was short, all elements of the work proceeded at speed, with treatment and all key stages of work by the 3D and VFX team approved by the ECD making trips to HCMC.
The Post
Digipost has a reputation for delivering cutting edge technology with a team of creative professionals with international and regional experience on board.
Digipost is equipped with cutting edge online and offline facilities such as Flame, Smoke (HD), Final Cut Pro (HD), DI Grading, After Effects, Maya and Pro-tools, pushing the boundaries of visual communication.
Digipost produces evocative and purposeful graphics, design and live action for advertising, broadcast and entertainment.
While creating the elements of nature in realistic 3D is always a challenge, the action scenes in the Toshiba project called for something even more. Each element had to be transformed into football strikers kicking the ball with incredible force. Based on actual life action movements, each element was painstakingly developed into characters of their own.
The result is a dramatic creation of super football strikers from grains of sand, the wind that intensifies to a tornado and flame embers to a formidable fire figure. Each character had to be as distinctly different as the elements it represented. The scenes, requiring several layers, were composited on After Effects and the Avid DS Nitris.
The music and sound design by the Digipost audio team was built over three parts. In a progressive buildup from the first element, sand, with strains of middle eastern sounds to the howling of the wind with orchestral and vocals to the quiet of outer space building up to a climax when all three forces come together.
"It helped that the clients and agency knew what they want and were very professional in every stage of the project. The job went smoother than expected without any problems or delay and on budget," said Lourkeris on completion of a successful and satisfying project. ASIAIMAGE