Microsoft - xbox 360 | France

When Autofuss was asked to produce this international spot featuring the new Xbox 360 we rose to the challenge. Working with a team of animators and some very precise measurements of the product the team and I prevised all the shots in Maya making sure each frame was exactly how we envisioned. When the product actually arrived on the stage we rigged it up to our motion control rig, lensed up the camera and crossed our fingers hoping that all of our calculations in the 3d world translated exactly how we wanted them to when implemented in the real world. Luckily the hard work paid off and everything lined up! This was important considering some of the camera moves we had created would place the camera lens within only a few centimeters of the product itself. When we ran the MoCo rig for the first time we just about had a heart attack for fear that the robot would drive the camera lens into the product destroying either the lens or one of 2 working prototypes or the product in the world at the time. I remember the product arrived locked in brief cases hiding behind some pretty serious NDAs and some stickers everyone had to put over their phone’s camera. This all seems so silly now that the product has been released and there are millions in circulation around the world. In true Autofuss fashion we shot the hell out of the product with multiple passes of every shot for alpha channel, the products self generated lighting, overall beauty pass, and a separate pass for each individual light so that it could be animated in post. Including previs, the shoot took close to a month to complete but these CG perfect moves aren’t easy to achieve entirely in camera. You might ask, why not just do it all in CG? Good question, it always looks better to do it practically and it’s definitely a lot more fun!

CREDITS:

Production Company: Autofuss
Director: Jeff Linnel & Randall Stowell
Producer: Julia Gottlieb
Director of Photography: Devin Whetstone
Gaffer: Joe Picard
Editor: Ashley Rodholm
Previs + Post: Chris Kelly & Colin Trentor
Art Director: Lisa Mishima