The new Allan Gray commercial, directed by Kieth Rose of Velocity Films for agency King James, used almost all of the tools in our digital arsenal and a few new ones.

The key to many of the shots in this epic commercial was making the hero feel consistently believable. The commercial needed to feel like a very human and emotional piece of storytelling, so it was very important to everyone involved that the visual effects become invisible.

Getting  the lead character to look like James Dean throughout the film required a number of different approaches, from full head replacements using original James Dean footage, to face replacements and face manipulation of the actor cast as the double. There was also prosthetics applications to make the actor look younger and older, on top of which we used digital aging and “youthenizing” techniques as well as prosthetics cleanup and blending. Almost every shot of James Dean had digital face manipulation of some sort, to maintain the correct shape, age or expression.

Much of the commercial involved extensive set extensions and matte painting, some of which replaced almost the entire original plate. These also included large amounts of crowd duplication and more roto and cleanup than some of our artists care to remember.

It was a great experience working with the creative teams from the production house and agency and a piece of work we are very proud of.

Allan Gray - Legend |