In a dark modern environment, the silhouette of a woman can be seen reclining in the distance. Within seconds, a close-up shot of the woman's finger touching her neck reveals tiny technological pixels being released from her body. She is a perfect hybrid of modern machine and beautiful woman. This is the dream-like futuristic world of the newest spot conceived by director Arvind Palep of 1st Ave Machine.
The Pixel spot is part of a large re-branding campaign headed up by New York based Production Company & Design/ VFX boutique 1st Ave Machine for Saturn, Europe's leading electronics store.
It was in a quiet London hotel room that Palep came up with the concept. He and partner, Serge Patzak, had been working in London on another project when 1st Ave was approached by Edward Grann, Executive Producer at Warm and Fuzzy, who represents them in Germany, along with the agency Scholz & Friends.
"We were presented with the challenge of creating a refreshing take on a sexy, female robot," feeling up to the challenge, Palep felt immediately drawn to the project. "Every one has seen the transparent, plastic-looking, mechanical, nuts-and-bolts robot. We wanted to look into the future to take the concept to the next level."
Palep's vision for Blu, as the character is called, was conceived over a single weekend in the heart of London. Over the next few days, Palep worked a plan to execute the spot with the rest of the 1st Ave team in New York who not only created the effects but designed the set and shot the live/action footage, and helped set up casting the model through a multiple city search that went through Argentina, Brazil, Los Angeles, New York and various cities in Europe.
"We are a 3D design boutique and production company that specializes in attention to detail and involvement in every aspect of producing thoughtful, visually intriguing spots. Saturn's agency Scholz & Friends came to us with the idea of a female robot, but wanted something new and nontraditional," says Serge Patzak, Executive Producer at 1st Avenue Machine.
After the opening shot of Blu's silhouette, a close-up camera follows the tips of he fingers as they lightly trace the contours of her body. As they travel over her neck, chest, arms, and legs, Blu's fingers reveal that her perfectly smooth skin is composed of blue pixels, some of which rise into the air as she continues to caress herself. Finally, the released pixels are drawn together to form a cube in front of her. As the pushes a button in the center of the cube, it explodes to reveal Saturn's various products.
Despite the extremely sensual content, the spot avoids becoming too racy through clever use of shadow, lighting and camera work. Lighting also played an important role in creating the effects. Dan Gregoras, Lead VFX Supervisor on the project, explains the technical challenges of the spot. "This project was particularly challenging because a lot goes into seamlessly integrating 3D elements with the human form, and making it look realistic. Our strongest tool as CG artists, was to use shadows and reflection to effectively create a hyper-real look. We also motion-matched the CG elements with the live-action footage frame by frame which is a time consuming process but really makes the animation feel real." 1st Ave Machine is a New York based VFX/ Production Company and has worked on campaigns for various clients including MTV, Adidas, Microsoft and Nissan.