Unreal Engine is used mainly for video games. BETC and its production compny, POP (Prose On Pixels), thought it could be an innovative production solution for Michelin. The tool enables specialised experts to generate environments with immediate 3D rendering, with no intermediate “grey rendering” phase and no need to “sculpt” the material. It features licensed models, so you can import them or draw from the library to build your own city, environment or road trajectory, and watch the result take shape in real time. The director then has total freedom to move vehicles, choose optics, place the camera and adjust the sunlight.
The creative idea would have been impossible to produce with the same agility using more traditional techniques.
“Because electric cars put tyres to the test, equipment manufacturers generally offer specific tyres. This is not the case at Michelin. In fact, the innovations that enable Michelin tyres to perform particularly well on electric vehicles are the same ones for which Michelin is already recognised and renowned. As a result, the only thing an electric vehicle needs is a Michelin tire, because it meets the needs of all vehicles, electric or otherwise. A tire should be chosen for a particular use, not for a particular type of engine,” BETC noted.
The 45-second sequence shot features an electric vehicle with white tyres, that moves through a city and transforms smoothly into several types of vehicle, evoking all the challenges taken up by Michelin in recent years.
While producing with Unreal Engine saves time and money, it still requires very specific and technical support, and mobilises a great deal of hands-on talent over a period of several weeks. Over and above the new production tool used, the innovative aspect of the project lay in its organisation, with a full remote configuration from Paris to New York giving access to the best talent with no travel.
The commercial involved all BETC and POP (Prose On Pixels) trades – strategic planning for the angle and message, creation for the idea and follow-up, all the commercial trades to manage the project, legal affairs, the producers to drive exchanges and keep to schedules, post-production to smooth out all the faults inherent in this mode of production and guarantee the agility and final delivery of a high-quality film. With the space between “thinking” and “doing” considerably reduced, BETC and POP (Prose On Pixels) had to work even more collaboratively. The contribution of a director and a team of technicians specialised in mastering the tool was essential. Director, Miles Cable, his team and their knowledge of cinematographic grammar and the physical reality of vehicle behaviour, made the experiment possible.
Credits:
Client: Michelin
Client Team: Thomas d’Aietti, Christelle Carrière
Creative Agency: BETC Paris
Chief Creative Officer: Remi Babinet
Executive Creative Director: Jerome Galinha
Creative Director: Julien Deschamps
Copywriter: Jean-Baptiste Soumier
Art Director: David Puiroux
Strategic Planner: Mattia Bellomo
Executive Creative Producer: Guillaume Denecker
Creative Resources Coordinator: Celine Laporte
Account Team: Bertille Toledano, Guillaume Espinet, Carole Penillard, Yael Blanque, Guewel Essioux
Production Company: POP
Producer: Jacques Etienne Stein
Creative Producer: Jeremy Marsy
Director: Miles Cable
3D Studio: Bodega Virtual
Post-Production Company: POP
Head of Post-Production: Clement Massu
Music: The Chemical Brothers – Galvanize
Sound Company: GUM
