GMC HD - The Story
I was commissioned to direct these two films by Worldwide Executive Creative Director of Leo Burnett, Peter McHugh. Peter and I had done a bunch of projects together when I was a Visual Effects Supervisor, so when he approached me for these, I couldn't have been more stoked. For a director with my DNA (I was a Visual Effects Supervisor and Animation Director at Digital Domain for 15 years) this was pretty much the "Dream Gig".
This was the first time as a director, that I was able to create a world that was only "slightly rooted in reality" from scratch. It was a genuine thrill to create this world on the printed page and then bit by bit, see it come to life as the spectacular digital artists at Asylum - led by Animation Director (and good friend) Piotr Karwas - did their magic.
The Robot designs, and the design of the environment were created by designer Jeff Julian. He's a genius. He's also a friend. I couldn't have had a better team on this project.
This is the previz that we did for "Build". The finished spots are at the end so you can see how it changed from the original concept to the finished piece. A piece of art should be plastic: that is to say "malleable" until it turns the creator of the art on.
This is the previz for "Inside". You can see the final version at the end of this blog. You can see, that this one had the most changes from the previz. My original idea was to have the final scene be a "timelapse" shot of the robots re-assembling the truck. It didn't fly with the agency or the clients.....not every idea sticks to the wall when you throw it.
Below are some of the designs and ideas on our way to the final film
An early flying robot design by Jeff Julian
Another early flying robot design
When you're designing a virtual space, shots like this are always helpful for you to get your bearings. When you're doing a project like this on a short schedule, you need to be able to convey the same idea to the many artists on the team.
This was one of the first renders of the room.
This was one of the first renders of the room.
Another view of the virtual space from the other end of the room. This was also very helpful in planning out camera angles.
These are my Director's notes on some of the robot details.
This is a first render of the robot with more director's notes on specific details
