In order for Sky Arts to re-establish itself as The Catalyst for Creativity it needed a rebrand that would make people stop and pay attention. The job of creating those VFX went to MPC.
MPC and Sky Creative gave the channel a spot-shaking dalmatian, a butterfly-brandishing geisha and an umbrella-blooming tree – a set of fascinating 25 second channel idents.
Sky lead design director, Alex Haley, commented, “MPC’s passion, expertise and willingness to go the extra mile on the Sky Arts rebrand has been second to none. At each stage of the project their attention to detail has elevated the work, creating an identity we are incredibly proud of.”
MPC’s CG supervisor, Greg McKneally, noted, “It was a great collaboration working with Director, Adam Wells, and Sky Creative over several months, from the initial planning to the highly technical shoots, right through to the final finesse of balancing the visual effects. Each ident presented a different set of challenges, with both CG characters and effects to integrate into the different environments.”
Director, Adam Wells, from from gotgotneed added, “On paper, the idea was pretty simple; visualising the transformation from ordinary to extraordinary through colour. However, this creative was only going to succeed through a strong collaboration between the live action elements and VFX. Each spot came with unique challenges, integrating three very different representatives of colour in three different scenes. The attention to detail from the VFX team was incredible from the beginning of R&D, through to on-set supervision and all the way across post production. Whenever I pushed more from the visual effects, the artists then wanted to push this further and make even better. This finesse and meticulous attention to all aspects, alongside MPC’s collaborative spirit, played a vital part in creating a beautifully crafted set of idents.”
The making of, from idea to ident:
Dogs shows a Dalmatian shaking off its spots and turning into drops of paint. The ident is a combination of smart shooting techniques and complex VFX. The dog, called Chance, was shot in a pure white set build and while the performance was being filmed, the CG team built a replica so that we see a clean white dog when the CG spots animate.
The paint was a combination of live action elements and CG simulations, which were consolidated to populate the white space with complete control and direction.
Butterflies was created using a seamless transition from the actress to a swarm of beautiful Monarch butterflies. While the CG butterflies were based on real researched examples, the colours were altered to align with the new Sky Arts branding.
The spot was shot in the striking scenery of Kings Palace in Turin and the swarm was created with a purpose-built simulation in Houdini, which was enhanced with individually animated hero butterflies.
Umbrella was shot in the surreal limestone environment of Malham, Yorkshire, to create a tree that blooms umbrellas instead of leaves. A variety of coloured umbrellas were created, then animated, popping out of the branches and flying across the landscape. Something as simple as an umbrella needs to have realistic movement and cloth simulation. For added complexity the umbrella also needed to react with a CG rain simulation. The spot is tied together with a moody tone of digital matte painting and seamless compositing.
Credits:
Client: Sky Arts
Agency: Sky Creative
Director creative and brand: Liz Darran
Executive creative director: Simon Buglione
Creative director design: Ceri Sampson
Design director: Alex Haley
Designer: Hywel Williams
Director: Adam Wells at gotgotneed
Producer: Sue Dhaliwal
Music and sound design: BXFTYS
Rebrand controller: Lydia Goomansingh
Design manager: Toasty Kunheim
Shoot producer: Rupert Style
VFX: MPC
VFX producer: Amy Richardson
3D lead: Greg McKneally
2D lead: Marcus Dryden
Colourist: Richard Fearon
