New Campaign is the First Real World Use of Nurulize Nu Design with Atom View Technology
To realize this new approach, The-Artery Founder and Director Vico Sharabani brought together an elite group of creative artists and skilled technologists. Emmy®-nominated cinematographer Paul Cameron (Westworld) and VFX Supervisor Rob Moggach co-directed the project, which features stunning production values, and gorgeous interplay of light and shadow. Renowned editor Michael Elliot contributed to the sophisticated editorial narrative, brought to life by an original musical score. Moody and mysterious, the campaign evokes the fearless, powerful and curious spirit of the Mercedes brand with a series six of intense broadcast commercials – including two fully CGI spots that were “shot” in a completely virtual world.
This pair of 30-second commercials, titled “First” and “Can’t,” are the first to be created utilizing a novel, real-time collaborative VR software application called Nu Design with Atom View technology. This cutting edge software from Los Angeles-based Nurulize allowed the directors and artists to run a VR-based production, shooting the spots, via the internet, across the North American continent.
Cameron, in Los Angeles, worked within a virtual world, choosing camera bodies and lenses inside the space that allowed him to “shoot” for POV and angles that would have taken weeks to complete in the real world. The software enabled him to grab and move the camera while all artistic camera direction was recorded virtually and used for final renders. This allowed both Sharabani (in NYC) and Moggach (in Toronto) to interact live and in real-time as if they were standing together on a physical set, establishing an entirely new production paradigm.
In addition to the expertise of these talented artists and Nurulize, the two spots were rendered with the support of Gridmarkets, a virtual render solution that partnered with The-Artery to make it possible to output the challenging multi-layered files in a fraction of the time previously required.
Campaign: What Makes Us | Spot Titles: “Can’t” | Air Dates: April 4, 2018
Agency: Merkley+Partners
CEO: Alex Gellert, Chief Creative Officer/Partner: Andy Hirsch, Group Creative Director: Drummond Berman, Creative Director: Greg Wells, Director of Broadcast and Integrated Production: Gary Grossman, Assistant Producer: Anthony DelVecchio, Account Director: Francesco Deluca, Account Supervisor: Ethan Nadel, Account Executive: Julia Breckwoldt
Production/Editorial/VFX/Post: The-Artery
Executive Producer: Deborah Sullivan, VFX Producer: Lynzi Grant, Head of Production: Melati Pohan, ECD: Vico Sharabani, Director/Cinematographer: Paul Cameron, Director/VFX Supervisor: Rob Moggach, Editor: Michael Elliot, Assistant Editor: Sarah Germano, Lead CG Artist: Sebastian Bilbao, Lead CG Artist: Lorne Kwechansky, CG Artist: Joe Grundfast, CG Artist: Justin Miller, Modeler: Rowan Simpson, FX Artist: Rafael Santos, FX Artist: Ben Watts, Nuke Artist: Winston Lee, Lead Flame Artist: Asaf Yeger, Flame Assistant : Kaya Ono, Designer: Liron Ashkenazi, Designer/Animator: Lori Hamasaki, Colorist: Stephen Picano
Virtual Reality Software: Nurulize
Founder: Scott Metzger, Producer: Philip Lunn
Cloud Rendering and Simulation: Gridmarkets
Co-Founder: Mark Ross, Engineer: Adam Ferestad, Engineer: Steve Sanders