It’s more than a year since an bored cat got in touch with his inner dog and discovered a world of things to explore (like O2’s new products and services).
In addition to the 60 second live action TV spot, MPC’s 3D department created twelve different cat animation assets that became O2’s biggest social media drive to date. There is a How Dog are You online quiz and even an online HTML5 game allows smartphone users to interact with the cat and play Frisbee on their computer screens.
Be More Dog has launched an number of O2 product and services in 12 months. Its latest is its most ambitious. The cat is flying in a computer generated universe way off in outer space.
Framestore’s co-founder and creative director, Mike McGee and producer, David Hay, had to first shoot live action that would fit what they had pre-vised with The Third Floor. The cat, a Maine Coon called Jonesy, was given a small 3D-printed space helmet in order to cast the right shadows across his face and he was placed on a turntable so that he could be made to move smoothly.
The cat’s face is the only live action element in the commercial. Framestore created his suit, the planets, nebula and comets with a combination of matte paintings, 2D elements and a lot of 3D. The aim was to create a stylised image that would uphold the humour so the team went for a hyper-real look.
Attention to detail was important. The cat plates were tracked, stabilised and composited into the CG helmet and suit, which were built completely from scratch. The suit was then layered up with the HUD, the thrusters and reflection on the glass, while displacement was animated on top of the material to give a gradual creasing effect. Dog-bone stripes were added to his suit, as well as other canine touches on his watch and HUD.
Even the stars and planets were detailed. Framestore strategically placed debris on one planet to form the word, priority, for example. Asteroid belts were animated in a way reminiscent of a wifi symbol. A pyro simulation for the 4G comet was added to give it a fluid-like trail to convey the speed. The satellite made of sim cards was a big modelling task for Framestore. The size of the cards had to be right for visibility, while being small enough to give a sense of the satellite’s huge scale.
The company that won an Oscar, BAFTA and VEs award for Gravity followed the same process as they had for the 2013 sci-fi film. “We went into a really high level of detail for the whole ad, but it’s all about the cat,” says Jay. “We’re all really proud of it, with the end shot being a particular favourite. Vanessa DuQuesnay did a beautiful job of compositing the cat-suits and added a real sense of realism to the 3D renders.”
