Ford Raptor - THE JUMP

Question: What’s the most absurd way to launch a new vehicle?

Answer: Out of the back of a cargo plane.

I started by building the scene in CG - Previzing what it would look like if we shot the stunt for real. I found an AN-12 military cargo plane on Turbosquid that worked perfectly with a cargo bay and door that could fit the Raptor.

However, there was a problem. When the Raptor design engineers looked at the Previz and ran tests using their simulation software, they told us that landing the truck onto hard tarmac would destroy it. So I went back to the drawing board and designed a ramp design that would give the Raptor enough launch velocity to fly through the air and an Evel Knievel-style on a landing ramp and thus soften the impact. The ramps I designed are represented by the semi-transparent green wedges at :31 in the Previz reference.

The engineers re-ran the simulations and gave the ramps a cautious thumbs-up. Then it was just a matter of rehearsing with the stunt driver and shooting all the necessary plates to put the composite together in Flame.

FORD - THE EXPLORER

100 years ago, a young Canadian explorer became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. She did it in a Ford Model T. A century later, American adventurer / influencer Lexie Limitless was attempting to recreate Aloha’s feat in the new Ford Explorer EV.

I was tasked with creating a trailer for Lexie’s epic undertaking.

As soon as I was given a CAD model of the new vehicle, I put it on a virtual road and began Previz-ing different angles and compositions to reveal in teasing glimpses what the new Explorer looked like. As we were working with an embargoed protype, we had to shoot the Explorer inside an LED volume with environments created in real-time using generative software - Unreal Engine.

On the LED volume, we systematically recreated all the angles and captured all the virtual driving shots. For shots where the Explorer parts are assembling in mid-air, we shot moving background plates and added the parts in CG.

Ironically, while we were shooting inside the studio with beautiful LED lighting, it was pissing down outside in the real world. For a director, this is one of the major benefits of shooting virtually. No sleepless nights worrying about dismal weather forecasts or losing precious shooting time and the beauty light we had on the tech scout.

Clearly, VR is going to play a major role in the future of car advertising and filmmaking as a whole.

AAMCO - TRAINEE WALKTHROUGH

AAMCO has been a loyal client, and with great loyalty comes great responsibility.

When the marketing director asked me to write a commercial concept that could also drive new employee recruitment, I used a CG Previz to pitch ‘Trainee Walkthrough’. The idea was simple — a trainee on his first day gets to see the impressive work being done by the AAMCO technicians, who are experts in all aspects of modern car technology.

More text coming soon talking about CGI car parts - ballet.

Talk about nonchalant performances

TATA - EV REVEAL

Text coming soon.

RUSTOLEUM - DREAM GARAGE

The idea was sold to the client as a simple locked-off camera on a driveway pointing towards a garage door. As the garage door opens and closes, it reveals different floor textures from RustOleum’s Rock Solid collection.

But garage floors, by their very nature, are quite boring, and so while I could see how this idea would focus the audience’s attention on the garage floor, I felt we needed to make the camerawork more dynamic and incorporate humanity. So I pitched a modified version of the concept with a camera orbiting around the inside of a garage, transitioning between different vignettes. To help the client visualize my proposed idea, I shot a Previz test - see the reference (in which I even play a couple of characters).

The client loved the idea - as long as I assured them that it could be pulled off.

This was an example of a spot where a live action Previz was invaluable. By constantly referring to the timings using a side-by-side edit on set, it allowed us to build the finished film in modular sections. As there weren’t any editorial cutaways in the seamless orbiting camera approach, so the speed of the camera and the amount of screen time spent in each vignette needed to be frame-accurate. As can be seen in the side-by-side reference.

GALEN - AROUND YOU

Previz starts in CG and then moves on to rehearsal video