Product range ads don’t welcome creativity with open arms. Car range ads even less so. But the creatives at Red Brick Road found a way around the restrictions of Suzuki’s range ad. And Blinkink’s Noah Harris and visual effects post production studio, nineteentwenty, gave the ad its eye-catching allure.
Dodgems is a candy-coloured dodgem race between Suzuki models, designed to highlight the safety features of Suzuki’s latest range of vehicles. It’s part of Red Brick Road’s Enjoy the Ride.
The cars get to show off the special features that prevent them from bumping into each other. One model spins in doughnuts as another halts to a stop just inches from a concrete bumper.
The cars were filmed on a purpose-built dodgems course in-studio with 10 stunt drivers, while footage of the funfair was captured in an exterior set. Nineteentwenty merged the footage of the two locations and added the final flashing touches to the fair background and the dodgems arena.
Duncan Horn, VFX Supervisor at nineteentwenty, explained, “The set was dressed with some fun fair lighting and rides already but we wanted to enhance the effect and add bigger background rides to make it feel like a busy fairground. We inserted elements shot at the exterior funfair into the interior studio background. To ensure continuity, we built a 3D map of the set and the landmarks that would surround the three open sides of the dodgems arena. The shots were all camera tracked around this space, so we were able to easily match each shot to the correct background landmarks.”
Nineteentwenty also added some final 2D and 3D touches to the arena itself…
“The set wasn’t strong enough to hold the chicken wire roof that normally powers the dodgems arena, so we built this in, in post and added the trademark wire sparks as the cars whizz around. We also added smoke canons to the shot of the car doing donuts and various other elements,” Horn noted.
…and worked with senior colourist at Freefolk, Duncan Russell, to match the VFX and grade.
Suzuki UK will be running the full length 60 second ad throughout Europe, along with 30 second and 10 second cut-downs. The spots will be supported by digital display, social, print, CRM and Point of Sale. In the UK and Ireland, the ads will also highlight Suzuki’s financial service offers.
Credits
Creative Agency: Red Brick Road
Executive Creative Directors: Matt Davis & Richard Megson
Art Director: Ted Smith
Managing Director: Andrew Godley
Business Director: Patricia Synephias
Senior Account Manager: Zelda Hughes
Producer: Tim Page @ Heads Up Productions
Production Company: BlinkInk
Director: Noah Harris
Editing: Max Windows @ Stitch Editing
Sound: Tony Rapaccioli @ Wave Studios
Post Production: nineteentwenty
VFX Supervisor: Duncan Horn
Colourist: Duncan Russell @ Freefolk
