"It's all in the Details"
Interview with Stardust Studio's Creative Director Brad Tucker

IT'S ART: You play with a minimalist environment and yet a complex one at the same time. Do you think using black and white helped produce more contrast between the different shots?

Brad Tucker: Having just black and white to play with was a very big challenge. We knew going into the spot that editorially it would be bland. We tried to invert the background as a way to break up the black feeling of the spot and bring a little surprise and life to the edit. I think it worked out very well and helped create a lot of contrast in the spot. With such a monotone environment the cars pop off the screen.

I.A: You had a tight schedule of only three weeks to finish this spot. Tell us how your software pipeline helped you make it in such a short time?

BT: More than anything else planning the spot with the storyboards and a pre-vis helped us make our deadline. From there we had a great roadmap of the entire spot and each artist knew exactly what he needed to do. After that it was just long hours and dedication from the entire team to get the job done on time. We used Maya 64 bit machines to do our 3d, Adobe After Effects and Apple Shake to composite the spot, and to make all of the renders ready on time we used Enfuzion Render Farm.

IA: Have you made any major changes since the low poly pre-vis to the final spot?

BT: For the most part our pre-vis was very helpful. It mainly helped us with the timing and an editorial sense of the entire spot. The most important thing we had to do once the pre-vis was locked was make the cars look like they were performing really well. We paid careful attention to the suspension and the way the cars moved. Also, each environment had to be built out so there was more detail in the backgrounds. The pre-vis was a great start but at the end of the day it was just that, a start. It was pretty much a sketch for what the spot was to become.

Scene 4 from Pontiac Details
Image courtesy of Stardust Studios.