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 Copenhagen-based
VFX Studio Ghost, relied heavily on eyeon’s Fusion to create a
CG talking bear with a limited attention span for the recent
30-second spot, "Tulip Bear."
Jeppe Nygaard
Christensen CEO and VFX Supervisor at Ghost, explained that,
for this entirely CG commercial, Ghost had to use many
'weapons from its arsenal.'
Click on the image below
to visit the Ghost VFX website and view the commercial. |
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"The
spot was brilliantly directed by Stevan Treshow," said
Christensen. "Stevan has a great reputation for doing
live-action commercials with little or no effects but, with
this spot, he wanted to take full advantage of the
possibilities offered by computer-generated imagery. He wanted
to be able to control the design of the environment, the time
of day, the different types of background motion and, of
course, the look and movement of the bear itself." |
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| The Danish ad for Tulip low-fat pate is set up as an
interview with a bear, and Christensen explained that he used
a complex motion capture system to achieve a realistic feel
for the interview. |
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| "It was of utmost importance for the director that the
acting between the camera, the interviewer, and the bear was
as true to a real life situation as possible," said
Christensen. "We decided to combine motion capture for the
actor playing the bear with a live action camera along with
the interviewer's microphone. One unintended benefit to
this was that we had actual footage of the guy playing the
bear so we were able to get an approved offline of the spot
long before the first rendering of the bear and its
environment." |
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He explained that the company used a combination of Maya
and Vue7 for the background plates, together
with the Maya plug-in Shave & a Haircut for the bear.
Renderman was used for all 3D rendering, while Fusion was used
for compositing. Grading was done in Scratch.
"Fusion
has always been our preferred compositing tool," said
Christensen. "For this spot, as for most other spots we
produce, we feel we have complete control when taking the
output from our renders and turning them into believable final
shots."
"We've been using Fusion ever since we started
in 1999, and, today, Fusion is our main compositing system,"
he added. We do have other tools but, for any complex
compositing, we would never consider anything but Fusion. What
we like most about Fusion is the fact that it works, and does
so really fast!" |
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Founded in 1999 by Jeppe Nygaard Christensen, Martin
Gårdeler, and Aksel Studsgarth, Ghost has grown to be one of
the largest visual effects facilities in Scandinavia, offering
everything from initial concept to final online and everything
in between, including grading, editing, visual effects
supervision, direction, 3D, and compositing. With a proven
track record in feature films and commercials, domestic as
well as internationally, the company's credit list includes
work on movies like Hellboy 2, Die Another Day, Harry Potter
5, 10,000 BC, as well as numerous commercials for companies
like Sony Ericsson, LEGO, Bacardi, and Coca Cola.
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"I think the strength of Ghost VFX lies in the fact that
we really love what we do. We have a strong passion for
creating beautiful imagery and impressive visual effects, and
I think we are keeping that passion alive by always trying to
make it just a little better," said Christensen.
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Image
courtesy Ghost VFX. All rights reserved.
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