Brief:

To create a photo-real, confident young ram for Volkswagen’s 60-second hero spot.

Solution:

Our artists crafted the photo-real character harnessing the expertise and learnings from across the studio, including the Jungle Book team in MPC Film. The baby ram needed to be created with life-like proportions, staying true to physical anatomy. To make him feel real, subtlety was key. Push the animation and ‘acting’ too hard, and you instantly lose believability – the emotion and storytelling in ‘Born Confident’ comes from our little hero’s elegant and confident posing, with no need for buffed-up, oversized muscles. Using innovative in-house software developed for photo-real creature work, the team mastered the tricky balance of crafting a charming photo-real character – the brilliantly bold little ram ready to take on the world – without slipping into cartoon-like animation.

Success:

The campaign won multiple awards including, a VES Award for Outstanding Animated Character, two British Arrows Silver Awards for VFX and a AEAF Silver Award for Animation.

Awards:

AEAF – Animation (Bronze)

British Arrows – Animation (Silver)

British Arrows – VFX (Silver)

VES – Outstanding Animated Character