Brief:

We worked with DDB Sydney to acheive their vision for this fun campaign by using VFX wizzadry to bring a toupee to life and showing its journey across Australia.

Solution:

Desiging a character without legs, arms or face from a bunch of hairs that the audience would engage with was a true challenge. The team began by creating character design sheets that outlined what the toupee would be able to do. How would the wings form? How could we suggest facial expressions by using strands of hairs to outline eyes and eyebrows? The project involved a lot of testing such as playing with the balance of hair stiffness. The toupee was created entirely in Houdini using proprietary grooming and simulation tools which meant that the grooming, simulation and rendering was in one software package, allowing for quicker iterations and more efficient workflows.

Success:

The campaign was awarded a D&AD Pencil in the Character Animation category and won a Bronze Kinsale Shark Award for Animation.

Breakdown