HP Mini ‘Hyper

The Skinny

Creative director Joe Lin, together with creative team Ginny Lim and Georgina Gray of Publicis Modem, started out with an idea of hyperactive girl who fit the profile of a HP Mini 1000 user. After discussions with director Karl von Moller and Blackmagic Design, the collaborative trio found a fun way to make a spot that was rich and detailed.

Titled ‘Hyper Girl’, the 30-second TVC was created to promote the launch of the slim and sleek HP Mini 1000 across Asia Pacific. The brief was to ensure that consumers would associate the HP Mini 1000 with instant connectivity on-the-go.

The Production

‘Hyper Girl’ features the same talent torso shots as seen in the previous spots of the series, only this time, the talent is walking through a series of seven wardrobe changes with a different background for each new look. The production team dressed up a Singapore lane with a vintage Mini Cooper; hot dog stand; artfully destroyed trashcan and graffiti, which the law-abiding art department had to spray-paint on paper before mounting on the walls.

Director von Moller chose to shoot on RED which had some significant advantages for production, “RED is ideal for the natural lighting conditions as it performs very well in both low light and overcast conditions.”

Another major advantage of shooting on RED was its QuickTime proxy file system. Blackmagic Design senior editor Tammy Quah attended shoot and as each scene was captured, she transferred the SD QuickTime proxies of the raw RED rushes onto her laptop.

As von Moller was shooting, Quah selected the go takes and assembled the edit. As each scene was captured, von Moller could see how the plates and elements lined up in the offline, enabling him to move on quickly and efficiently to the next shot.

E-Vonne Loh, marcom program manager, HP PSG, Asia Pacific & Japan commented: “With the wardrobe and background transitions, this spot is very technical and hard to visualise at the production stage. Being able to see the rough cut on the shoot was a very welcome reassurance.”

The Post

Blackmagic Design creative director Damien Yang had to achieve a comfortable pace and rhythm for each of the wardrobe transformations. Using what von Moller termed as “highly ambitious post production techniques”, Yang stitched together different body parts and pieces of clothing from multiple plates along with CG elements to create the series of seamless transitions.

Blackmagic Design 3D/VFX artist Teo Boon Hock had to achieve what he termed a “coordinated mess” when creating the swirl of CG words that first cloak the talent and then reveal a new wardrobe change. As the swirl of words form first an electric guitar and then a shoulder bag, Teo had to accurately balance different particle variables, like speed and spread, offsetting specific particles at precise key frames to achieve the smooth transitions and fluid shape formations.

“It’s easy to form one shape but it’s tricky for the particles to leave that form and morph into another shape … and to do it twice is of course twice as tricky! The transformations have to transit at a comfortable pace and the shapes have to look realistic as well – not look like one big chunk of bees circling the talent!” he commented.

To ensure the high level of 3D photorealism, the Blackmagic Design VFX team attended shoot to capture all the necessary camera data, lighting, colour and texture references and environment maps. Attending shoot also enabled the team to have an accurate idea of the overall special dimensions of the shoot and the relative position between talent and camera.

Solid shoot data and references also proved indispensable for Blackmagic Design 3D animation director Vincent Yoe, who created the colourful burst of 3D elements that cascade out of the screen in the final scene. Yoe created a 3D model of the HP Mini that he then tracked over the top of the live Mini to give him full control of the angle of the screen and the ability to effectively marry the 3D elements emanating from it. ASIAIMAGE