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IA: Can we get some details about the models, the number of hours you've worked on this spot, etc ...?

DH: The models were actually quite simple, no amazing polycounts or anything like that. It was mostly about textures and displacement to add detail to clothes, like seams and trims. The modeling and texturing stage took the longest at around seven weeks. This was partly because Ree drew the original designs by Shy and translating them in both model and texture became a bit of an evolutionary process. The matte painting work was also quite labor intensive, due to the rain during the shoot and having a weather day, the plates were inconsistent and so many were rebuilt from scratch using photographic stills taken on set. Enhanced with more flowers, plants and trees many of the plates look nothing like the originals, which makes a before and after shot a necessity to understand how much work went in to the entire process.

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IA: What was the hardest part to design? Why?

DH: I think the hardest was Polly, the little lady that opens the shutters. She had a beautiful hairstyle of curly locks, elaborate feathers and a mask. We left the hairstyle represented as geometry for quite a while until we decided which application we would use for the long hair. XSI was proving easier to groom the long hair and so in the end, Polly got XSI hair and nCloth feathers. Lattices were used to stop collision and control the bounce of each curl. The other thing about Polly and all the characters was designing things you will never see in the commercial. This is because the characters are being used in an extensive print campaign and what might be missed in the spot will definitely be seen in detail around the shopping malls of South Africa.

IA: What do you think your studio brought to this spot?

DH: We are generally a young team with four of us having worked in the industry longer than six years. Most have between one and two years experience. The dedication however shows in the amount of detail we constantly pushed to achieve. Jannes was adamant that he wanted detail and at every chance we had, we would add a little something extra. 

IA: What have you learned from this experience?

DH: I have learned a lot about time management and how to get the most from my team. Everybody is eager to produce their best work it just takes different approaches for different people. As a company, we have also learned a lot about pipeline management and we look forward to the changes taking place.

IA: Can you speak about other projects you're working on?

DH: Our compositing team is busy with the NBC series, Knight Rider and we are working on the extensive print campaign for Bakers’ Biscuits. There are more commercials in the near future and we look forward to new challenges ahead.

Links

Blackginger website

Bakers Precious Biscuit Hires Version

Production Focus Archive

Credits

Client: Bakers
Agency: Ogilvy, Johannesburg
Creative Director: Bridget Johnson
Art Director: Monique Kaplan
Copywriter: Amy Auret
Producer: Lisa Jaffee

Creative: Shy the Sun
Animation Direction: Ree Treweek and Jannes Hendrikz
Designs: Ree Treweek
Compositing: Jannes Hendrikz
Producer: Nina Pfeiffer

Production House: Blackginger
Producer: Tracy-lee Portnoi
Animation Supervisor: Darrin Hofmeyr
VFX Supervisor: Marc Horsfield
Modeling: Francois Conradie, Hayden Barnett,
Rigging: Sandy Sutherland
Animation: Richard Clarke, Andre de Villiers, JC Phillips
Textures: Sasha Perdigao, Lani Greenhill, Kirsten Beets
Fur: Suzanne van Niekerk, Jason Slabber
Lighting and look dev: William Harley
s.ystems developer: Neilan Naicker
Matte Painting and Flint: Rob Muir
Assistant compositor: Monika Vermuelen

Live Action: CAB films
Director: Bruce Paynter
Producer: Charles Galagher

Sound Design/Mix: Alun Richards