Audi: Electricity Untamed

Project overview by The Mill:

Audi has commissioned a set of three viral movies which depict a series of apparent ‘one off’ phenomenon captured by amateur cameramen. Each of the events witnessed feature an ‘electrical incident’ and contain impressive stunts made to look realistic thanks to special effects by The Mill.

Rocky Morton has directed these short films which should spark excitement in the automotive market when they are released online. ‘Spark’, ‘Mower’ and ‘Storm’ act as a teaser campaign and direct viewers to a new website promoting the first hybrid Audi.

In ‘Static’ a young boy charges himself up with static electricity by rubbing his feet on a shag pile rug and then tentatively touches a metal banister. The release of the static charge catapults the boy across the room and into the kitchen trash can leaving him dazed and confused.

The second film titled ‘Mower’ depicts an apparently mundane act of a guy trying out his new lawn mower. When the motor is switched on however, a sudden surge of power propels the mower across the lawn and into the street along with the man still desperately clinging on to the mower’s handle.

Finally, ‘Storm’ features footage shot from a boat travelling along Frankfurt’s Main River at night. A wild electrical storm lights up the picturesque cityscape. The final lightning strike hits a bridge the boat has just passed under%3B a flurry of sparks and deafening thunder clap make for a hair raising experience. “Electricity will be untamed” is the end tag, with 9/15 noted, the date of the Autobahn Show in Frankfurt.

‘Mower’ and ‘Static’ involved extensive wire removal and clean up. Billy Higgins worked as the lead Flame artist on the project and notes: “As the films were shot ‘handycam’ style there was lots of tracking involved in the clean up work which was a challenging process”. Once the visual effects work was completed, Billy enhanced the home made feel of the films by adding in blown out highlights and extra camera shake.

‘Storm’ was worked on initially by the CG team in London who added lightning, sparks, water droplets to the lens and smoke elements. Billy used Flame to composite all the elements together and added hand drawn lightening when more was requested.

Andy Nicholas, Lead 3D at The Mill said: “Although the original concept was a shot from a static camera on the river bank, Rocky really wanted to capture something a lot more dynamic. We ended up shooting the sequence at 5 a.m. on a boat driven at break neck speed down the Main River”. He added: “As a result there was more work in post, but part of our role in the job is to provide flexible creative solutions that allow creative ideas like these to be realised and help the director tell the story”.

Released on YouTube the shorts have received over 200,000 hits each in their first week with many viewers debating whether the films are ‘fake’ or not. Audi’s new microsite www.electricityuntamed.com is sure to get a lot of interest too as they unveil the new e-tron.

Credits:

Title: Electricity Untamed
Agency: Venables, Bell & Partners
Producer: Mandi Holdorf
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Rocky Morton
DP: Storm – Jean Marc Static/Mower – Julian Whatley
Producer: Darrin Ball
Editing Company: Beast
Editor: Doug Walker
Post Production: The Mill / Los Angeles
Producer: Arielle Davis
Lead Flame: Billy Higgins
Flame Assist: Gavin Camp
Combustion: Shane Zinkhon
Lead 3D: Andy Nicholas
Shake: Ben Perrott
Kit: Flame Combustion Maya Shake

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