MPC creates a playful robin for JEEP

Speaking on the creation of the CG robin, Fernando Tortosa, VFX Supervisor at MPC comments: “There was a lot of investigation within a tight deadline. It was important to be technically accurate but also to generate a character which would deliver an emotional connection between the girl and the bird. To do this we studied closely how this bird species behaves and how its body reacts to the environment. The most difficult part is to produce a photo-realistic character with a feather system which looks and reacts to flying in a natural manner. To speed up the character development we used projection techniques to reduce the VFX process from the normal nine days to only two, making the robin both more realistic and the production process more efficient for the client.”

On the challenges of animating a CG robin, David Bryan, Animation Director at MPC adds: “There are a number of reasons why animating birds can be challenging. Their movement is fast and it’s hard to understand the mechanics because all of their bones are concealed by their feathers.” David speaks on the preparation needed: “We used the first few days of the project to build a library of animations that could be pieced together in a similar way to how video game animations blend from one clip to the next. This stage was crucial as time restrictions meant that we had to approach this project as efficiently as possible and this workflow allowed us to build our shot layouts very quickly.”

Salvini concludes: “We felt privileged to be able to work with such a collaborative team of agency and production partners who combined their technical expertise to launch such an exciting new range for a truly iconic brand.”