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Client: Mazda
Title: Prison Break
First Air Date: October 13, 2011

Agency: The Garage/Team Mazda
Chief Creative Officer: Harvey Marco
Creative Director, Copywriter: Sandra Luciano
Creative Director, Copywriter: Napper Tandy
Creative Director, Art Director: Dino Spadaveccia
Producer: Dominique Anzano

Production Company: Independent Media, Inc./LA
Director: Janusz Kaminski
Executive Producer: Susanne Preissler
Head of Production: Marc Siegel
Line Producer: Denise Rocchietti

Editorial Company: Union/LA
Editor: Jim Haygood
Assistant: Dylan Firshein
Producer: Lynne Mannino
EP: Megan Dahlman

Telecine:  CO3/LA
Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld

Online: resolution la
Online editor: Evan Guidera

Audio Mix: Eleven

For the Grammy’s campaign, Little Red Robot created a custom car camera mount for the Canon mkII 5d from industrial suction cups and grip gear, after the now-ubiquitous camera had just been released. While LRR did an amazing production for their Spot for Project Rising Stars, “We wanted to revisit the MKS but completely in CG,” says Shukovsky (pictured),  “and do a piece that ties together the best of CGI, VFX with Motion Graphics. We wanted to see how close a young artist could come to level Digital Domain and other shops responsible for Lincoln’s TV advertising had achieved both aesthetically and technically, without the benefit of the bells and whistles of a large shop and utilizing 1 intern over 3 weeks. I’m very proud of this, given the fact that we created this spot with just an intern, not our regular professional staff, and it almost stands up to Digital Domain quality. For the bigger shops like DD, the threat of being rivaled by smaller shops with similar capabilities is real. Agencies are going to smaller, elite teams to use the same tools, to do what was once possible only under the auspices of huge studios with expensive equipment.”

Little Red Robot is an active member of the creative community, and schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area send their graduating classes to the shop to vie for spots in LRR’s highly coveted internship program. “Usually we have them pitch and learn the ropes from our Senior artists and lend a hand on our active projects,” Shukovsky says, “but when Daniel’s internship started up, the project we were currently engaged in was really demanding and we had a full staff just cranking on it, with no real time to evoke our customary internship routines.”

The MKS 2010 spot was created by “Daniel” Diandian Mao, LRR’s Spring intern from The Academy of Art University. LRR asked him to study the Lincoln ads that Y+R Team Detroit had done and create a :30 that drew off on some of same principals, lighting, camera moves, car details and art direction. Within a few weeks, and with a little bit of supervision and assistance from LRR CG Supervisor Buddy Giguere, Daniel had created the 100% CGI spot; even the hand switching gears was done completely in 3D. The main technical support Daniel received from LRR’s CG  Supervisor was in developing a customized animation rig for the car that would allow the tires and the body of the car move naturally according to real world conditions, so when the car banks, all the movement that would ensue in a real-world scenario car would reproduce in the CGI model.

LRR’s “2010 MKS” piece features a French Electro cover of Duran Duran’s “The Chauffeur” created by David Della Santa of Volume Music + Sound. “Once we had the spot rendered, I immediately contacted David, who’s done standout work on LRR campaigns for Suzuki, Ubisoft, and others,” says Shukovsky. “I knew that Volume would pull off something amazing. Man, They KILLED IT! The track and sfx (expertly mixed by MSquared) is an ideal marriage to the high octane graphics we cranked out. It’s a perfect fit for the Lincoln vibe. ”

“It’s easy to get pigeon-holed in this business,” he says. “We’re very proud of the live-action directing and the motion graphics and 3D projects we’ve done. Everyone that’s worked with us knows we’re constantly looking to come up with new innovative techniques and convey the full range of our capabilities in bringing an idea to life. ’2010 MKS’ was an opportunity to just scratch the surface in demonstrating that yes, we can do an all CGI automotive spot in house. We have all the artistry, tools, producers, and specialists right here, and we’re seeking challenges on a daily basis.”

Credits:

Spot Title: “2010 MKS” (spec)

Production Company: Little Red Robot
Director: Little Red Robot
Producer: Joseph Segrove
CG Artists: ‘Daniel’ Diandian Mao, Buddy Giguere
Editor/Online: Seth Shukovsky

Music/Sound Design: Volume Music + Sound, San Francisco
Song: “The Chauffeur,” by Duran Duran
Track created by: David Della Santa
Sound Designer: Jeff Dodson
Vocalist: Kelly Atkins (from the band 20MinuteLoop)
Mix: Mark Pitchford, M Squared San Francisco