ABOUT

In partnership with Dell and their creative agency, Y&R, we created the “Elves” spot to show what can happen when businesses go with the alternative digital solutions. Our concept artists created a wide array of characters, many of whom resemble different personalities that could be found in a typical office. We spent a lot of time working out just the right level of charm and whimsy in the characters: we tried to avoid making them endearing to viewers without being too abrasive to distract from the message of the spot. After defining the characters in 2D we began 3D modeling. The characters were rigged for movement and our team built a highly-customized rig to propagate the many variations and characters types throughout the scenes. We moved into cloth simulation to bring an articulate nuance to the way the characters moved. Their cloths had to feel realistic when compared to their human counterparts to fully integrate the elves with the live action components of the spot. Then, materials and lighting were applied to the scene. Referencing our earlier concept designs we created an array of hair styles, cloths and accessories to adorn our elves and create variation. We used all the information we captured on set to integrate the elves into each shot.