A perfectly fitting Campaign
The balance between real-life and handcrafted computer graphics
Challenges come in all shapes and sizes, much like Girav‘s collection. In this case we got the opportunity to give our take on the famous ‘frozen in time’ effect.
We’ve all seen it before. We’ve all wondered how it’s been done… But how would we do it?
Our approach involved 3D scans, cloth simulations and hours upon hours of solid effort to shape the concept into a perfect product.
Being There commissioned us for this strong and attention-grabbing project. The concept hits the essence of the campaign perfectly. Our imagination was sparked and we went to work.
AGENCY
BRAND
In October 2019 Girav launched their brand-new concept, providing customers with a range of sizes in various shirts. They have developed an alternative size guide based on length, body-weight and build.
Being There was tasked to develop the sales campaign, targeting audiences through TVC’s and social media. The concept they came up with shows the variety of available shirt sizes, for the iconic Girav white T, all in a single line-up. This concept required a unique style, and that’s where we come in.
Flexibility was key here, the full CG solution offered us full control in post-production. We can optimize composition, camera motions and timings. We even have the possibility to swap out T-shirts with other garments for future campaigns.
The perfect fit requires a lot of work, especially for every one of these 17 poses.
This is not a typical workflow, as we are aiming for a bullet-time effect, every shirt is frozen in time and space. The line-up takes you through a motion, its flow generates a composition and the end-result should have you baffled; so how did they do this? The base for these poses was an animated CG character, used as a collision for the CG shirt to interact with. Every shirt was specifically directed, to the wrinkle, and hand-sculpted to perfection.
“The goal was to construct a visually stunning long-take. Bridging the infamous ‘uncanny valley’ was necessary to achieve believable photo-realism”
The set was built from scratch, designed specifically for this shot. It emphasizes the line-up in such a way we were able to create depth and an interesting composition. The mood itself should convey a rugged, sturdy and manly feeling, speaking directly to the target audience. Our characters and shirts should blend seamlessly into this environment, and make them stand out at the same time.
Lighting is extremely important here. The clair-obscur style uses a bold contrast, affecting the whole composition.
Additional effects like dust particles, volumetric light-rays and dusty footprint impacts tie the whole shot together.
Creating convincing digital characters is a true craft, it needs to be mastered.
Since Colorbleed’s foundation we have focused on creating and animating characters. Part of this process has been researching the possibilities of photo-real 3D avatars. Feature films have been leading, crafting digital doubles since the beginning of time. It’s great to see that, in the commercial scene, we can achieve similar results with quick turnarounds.
Step one in this process was making 3D scans of Girav’s fashion models. They serve as a base for a very intricate refinement process. Every single skin-wrinkle and pore was hand-sculpted, every hair was placed until an absolute match was achieved.
Break it down
Hard work pays off.
We break down some of the big steps we take to create this long-take.
Famous magicians will tell you that you create illusions by creating distractions. Well, we don’t. We create photo-realistic CG by having eye for details, because that is what the audience will see.
“Thank you for the amazing commercial, hero and social videos. At Girav we are extremely pleased with the end result. Your team has moved mountains, this is truly noticeable in the completed work.”