Lexus' Perfection Revealed in New Spot Featuring Effects, CGI, and Finishing by A52
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WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA (Jan. 29, 2004) -- Clio-winning Los Angeles visual effects and design company A52 today detailed their visual effects and CGI work for RSA/USA and director Carl Rinsch for Team One Advertising’s new Lexus “Dimples” :30 spot, which is currently airing nationwide.
Set in a darkened wind-tunnel test facility, Lexus’ luxury sedan is raised into the air and then spun over onto its back. A giant fan blows a stream of smoke that hugs the vehicle’s profile, and a closeup shot reveals the undercarriage’s dimpled panels which, as the voiceover explains, were developed by Lexus’ engineers to reduce noise and lower wind resistance. “So it’s aerodynamic, from every angle,” concludes the VO from artist Jim Sloyan. [an error occurred while processing this directive]
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“We took the traditional wind tunnel car spot and turned the cliché upside down to prove that Lexus' pursuit of perfection goes beyond any other car manufacturer,” explained Team One’s associate creative director and art director Robert Prins, who also illuminated some production details that viewers are not likely to guess. “In the spot,” he added, “the car is a real car spinning upside down, and the fan and the apparatus that grabs the car are miniatures built by Stan Winston... but everything else you see has been built by A52.”
On the Set
A52’s project producer Lisa Beroud worked with visual effects supervisor Patrick Murphy to support Carl Rinsch and the RSA/USA team in all phases of the project’s planning and production. On the set at Delfino Studios in Sylmar, Calif., Rinch and director of photography Tobias Schleissler used multiple motion control passes to film the fan and robot arm miniatures against a black backdrop. Motion control was also used to capture the car as the practical arm turned it over – and for the other shots of the car and the under-panels.
For each motion control shot, colorist Stefan Sonnenfeld of Company 3 provided A52 with four transfers: one flat, a reflection pass, a beauty pass and a matte pass.
A52’s Post
Team One’s Robert Prins credited A52’s team with coming up with the look for the wind tunnel. Based on a still image of the mouth of a tunnel, A52’s project 3D animator Westley Sarokin worked with Patrick Murphy in using Houdini and Renderman to design and create the CGI tunnel that appears behind the vehicle in the finished spot.
A52 also relied upon the artists at in LA’s Sway Digital Studios to create the CGI smoke that blows around the car.
With the multiple passes of the live-action elements and the CGI wind tunnel and smoke, A52’s team of Discreet Flame and Inferno artists began compositing the pieces together. The practical lift that physically raised the car on the set was replaced with the imagery of the Stan Winston miniature arm. A52’s VFX artists then provided a seamless team effort to assemble the turbine fan and the smoke in their proper places and to polish the spot’s finished look to perfection.
“Without the great work of each member of A52’s team, this spot simply couldn’t have come together,” said Robert Prins. “Hands-down, they were the key ingredient in making it what it is.”
In addition to Robert Prins, the team for Team One also included executive creative director Chris Graves, creative directors James Dalthorp and Jon Pearce, copywriter Jeff Spiegel and producer Jennifer Willett.
Production was overseen by RSA/USA’s executive producer Marjie Abrahams and also included producers Leanne Amos and Tony McGarry.
A52’s team was led by executive producer Darcy Leslie Parsons and project producer Lisa Beroud. Patrick Murphy and Simon Brewster served as visual effects supervisors and Inferno artists, Marguerite Cargill, Ben Looram, Mark Alan Loso and Marty Taylor performed as Flame artists and Henry artist Scott Johnson conformed the online edit. Sway’s team consisted of executive producer Rachel Kaminek, visual effects supervisor Mark Glaser and digital artists Jeff Dierstein and Wayne England.
Paul Martinez of Santa Monica’s Lost Planet edited the spot, and the sound design is courtesy of executive producer/creative director Scott Ganary, producer Kim Blando and sound designer Eddie Kim of Santa Monica’s 740 Sound Design. Bob Gremore at Santa Monica’s Mike Recording Services engineered the final mix.
About A52
Established in 1997 as a home for the very latest high-end photo-real visual effects technologies and the industry’s most innovative and talented graphic design artists, West Hollywood visual effects and design company A52 creates award-winning imagery for the world’s most visually ambitious commercial and music video projects. The company’s work has been honored as being among the very best throughout its marketplace, having received top honors from Adweek, Advertising Age, Creative Review, Creativity, Shoot and Shots... and also having received AICP Show recognition for four consecutive years along with recent “Outstanding Commercial” Emmy, Andy, Automotive Advertising, BDA, Clio, British Design and Art Direction, London International Advertising, One Show, PROMAX and International Monitor Awards. For more information, please call executive producer Darcy Leslie Parsons at 310.385.0851 or visit www.A52.com.
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