London 2012 Olympic Games TV Commercial
We were delighted when Cable & Wireless Seychelles came to us and requested a commercial that could be used to publicise their involvement as a broadcasting sponsor for the London 2012 Olympic Games. They were also interested in an abridged version of the full commercial that could be used to promote particular televised Olympic events.
CWS are the premier telecommunications provider in the Seychelles. The company began in 1893 and since then has developed into the expansive telecommunications service that we see today. Amongst their multitude of services, they provide fixed, mobile and broadband services for the public as well as catering for the needs of a large number of businesses in the Seychelles.
This commercial was for a highly-respected client and given the huge magnitude of this task, it’s no wonder that we spend a lot of time in researching, designing, planning and preparing in order to ensure that we created the perfect commercial for CWS’s use. In order to help process this project we used multiple character visual designs and many storyboards to make sure that we got this commercial absolutely right.
The finished advert is intended to strike a balance between upholding and promoting the corporate and dependable brand of CWS whilst also maintaining a level of fun that comes associated with sporting events. Given that this commercial was for a customer located in the Seychelles we felt that it was important to make certain that the events in which the Seychelles participated were represented.
The requested sports that we needed to include were: cycling, weightlifting, sailing, boxing, swimming, diving and archery. We felt that it was important to present a level of continuity between all of these sports and this can be seen in the varied transition we used to gravitate from one sport to the next. We enjoyed the challenge of animating every single sportsperson – each one came with its own specific challenge as it was imperative that each animation achieved the desired look and dynamic. We particularly enjoyed the way that each animation is brought together to form the CWS logo in the final shot.
In order to process this task, we used motion capture data that was then integrated into our 3D humanoid model; the clear reason being to ensure that our animations were as lifelike in the way that they moved as possible.
Once the data was acquired it was sent through our cross-platform transfer pipeline system in order to integrate it into our software. We were then able to skin each character to skeleton in order to accurately analyse the movement we were looking for. We then meticulously planned camera rigs and setups so that we could use that information to create a final composition that included seamless transitions. We also designed and recorded all the sound in house.
