(Pontiac, Michigan--November 20, 2008) Mackevision, a premier 3-D visualization company with offices in Germany and Pontiac, Mich., was commissioned by Tribal DDB, of Hamburg, Germany, to produce the computer generated imagery (CGI) materials for the launch of the Volkswagen Scirocco.
The real background environments were produced by John Wyland, executive vice president and head of production, Mackevision, over a period of approximately two weeks. The production process included two days of filming and gathering the background plates, after which the Stuttgart facility constructed the CGI Scirocco vehicle, and seamlessly integrated the vehicle into the actual filmed backgrounds.
“It was truly a global effort,” explained Wyland. “Mackevision was able to utilize its worldwide presence in coordinating the completion of the project between our offices in the United States and Germany.”
Wyland and his crew shot their material at the same date, time and locations as the Tribal DDB crew, which is a rare practice for most CGI houses. This process ensured that the scenes shot with a real Scirocco prototype would seamlessly intercut with the CGI Scirocco in the same location.
“This was a unique opportunity for Mackevision to collaborate with the Tribal DDB film crew and produce all materials in unison,” explained Wyland. “Filming the two background scenes at the same time ensured a seamless integration of environments.”
Included in the materials produced were a series of film sequences for a Web special and an interactive 360 degree Web model.
The interactive navigation tool, designed by Tribal DDB and created by Mackevision, is a glass cube in the center of the Volkswagen AG Web site, providing users with a 360 degree interactive view of the vehicle by dragging the mouse to activate chosen views and various animations. The Web special for the Scirocco provided Volkswagen with the flexibility to showcase its sport coupe through a CGI vehicle that was seamlessly set into actual filmed backgrounds.
Vehicle details and animations concerning design (“style”), driving sensation (“experience”), and power and performance (“performance”) were featured in three separately released sections of the Web special. Visitors to the Web site can navigate through these sections to acquire detailed information about the vehicle.
Under the “style” section, users can select among four video clips relating to the design of the vehicle, including a video of the driving Scirocco in a city-light environment with rapid camera movements, and one of the interior, showing with the utmost detail interior detail, quality and equipment, all of which are computer generated.
In the “experience” section, users can customize the Scirocco by changing its color. Once selected, the customized CGI vehicle is shown driving in an actual film clip, created in the locations in and around Las Vegas.
Users visiting the “performance” section are able to select various video clips showing the Scirocco in action to showcase the technical highlights of the car’s transmission, body and chassis. These scenes seamlessly combine the real and CGI vehicle integrated into actual filmed backgrounds, and are hardly discernible to the human eye.
The actual filming process by Mackevision included various clips at numerous locations for the Web specials, including the two-day filming process in the Las Vegas deserts. One unique filming tactic used by Mackevision was the attachment of a still camera to the hood of a car which was driven down the Las Vegas strip to capture the city effects and lighting, and later used to construct geometric shapes to represent the blurring lights (as seen in the background of the video in the “style” section).
The Best of Scirocco video has been entered into the 2009 New York Film and Video Festival in the category K07 – Craft: Special Effects / CGI. Also submitted by Mackevision in the Festival were the SLR Raceway, in the category L01 – Industrial Productions: PR, and the BMW X6 Joyride, in the category: L20 – Industrial Productions: Sales.
The SLR Raceway was awarded the Gold Award at the Integrated TV & Video Association (ITVA) awards show, which took place on September 26 at the Photokina 2008 in Cologne, Germany.
About Mackevision
Founded in 1994 in Germany, Mackevision is an international, premium service provider and global leader in the area of 3D animation, visual effects and post-production for agencies, film productions and industrial clients, providing front-end customization to clients and offering a wide range of services – from concept design and consulting through data handling, production and 3D implementation. Mackevision employs more than 60 specialists at three locations – Stuttgart, Munich and Pontiac, Mich., U.S. For more information, visit: www.mackevision.de.
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