Post Production review: How The Lab Sydney produced purrfect 3D commercial for Whiskas

Whiskas parent company Mars Pet Care has a reputation for commissioning only the best work and as Downs continued, it was clear The Lab's process had to match. "We started with our in house Character Designer Daniel Bavell coming up with several illustrative designs for cats with 'cat-itude' which we ran past the production company and agency TBWA Melbourne. It was critical that everyone was 100% happy with the character designs."

As with many blue chip FMCG brands, much was done in the way of research to finesse the final concept for the new ads. With the script finalised the Lab's team produced a test animation shot as part of winning the overall pitch. Downs explains, "The test was basically a 10 second proof-of-concept which provided the first chance to see the approved cat design come to life. In spite of being a first attempt, the test was very well received and offered a great talking point."

Following the successful test shot, the project headed into live action production, Downs continues, "Our VFX Supervisor Soren Jensen and myself were on set gathering lighting data and working with the Director, James Holt, on the framing of the cat. Using our 3D cat, we created a range of cat poses designed to capture the range of motion from the storyboards, which we then printed onto foamcore. These life-size printouts served a critical role in helping us assess the animation requirements for each shot and served as a great reference for composition. James is a very visual person and once on set he would often see a better way to frame a shot. This approach meant we had to keep a close eye on what was happening in each shot and how it was going to affect the animation and interactions we were creating at a later stage."

With Whiskas shooting and editing the two ads in the campaign simultaneously the post production began soon thereafter. The Lab's Producer on the Whiskas TVCs was Linda Lum who added, "Once the ads were shot and edited our Senior Colourist Marcus Timpson graded the live action plates in our Baselight suite. We have a real advantage of being able to scan in 2K and work in higher than broadcast quality data. This is a big plus for our clients as we scan and grade in house, without any cropping at the best quality possible. This was also the first time James had worked on a Baselight suite and he loved the experience."

Efficiencies of workflow have long been a major part of The Lab's ethos. Clinton Downs explained, "We try and work as efficiently and effectively as possible. Always looking for better ways to do things. In this case we minimised tracking by locking off the camera and putting the moves back in during post. Determining the locked off shots was done in collaboration with James and Susie Douglas, the Producer, both of whom we had an excellent working relationship with. James is a very talented director who gave us the latitude we needed to get the animation working perfectly by allowing us to trim the edit here and there. This flexibility meant we could ensure the action of our cat cut seamlessly between shots. It was a cool way of working and meant the client got the very best out of the animation by allowing us more creative input."

According to Linda Lum, collaboration was truly the name of the game with the Whiskas ads. "We had a great process in place." She said. "Using our untextured grey model, we blocked PC's action in each commercial which was in turn sent to the client and agency for approval. Once approved we would take care of lighting and final animation. All in all it was very efficient."

Clinton Downs agreed, "Basically the first ad served as the test bed for defining who this character was, how he looked and how he performed. It also presented us with technical issues to resolve and consequently meant some late nights were required to get things looking right. The second ad then bore the fruits of that labour. In truth there was more animation in the second ad but with everything we had learned, it took us half the time."

The Lab's 3D process is always a comprehensive one. Fused with animating and personifying animals and characters it becomes a real team effort to deliver exactly to a client's expectations.

"We discussed how far we could push the cat's character." Explained Downs. "We went through the limits and managed the expectations of a character that was cat-like but animated. We ended up with a hyper-realistically styled cat that behaved like a real cat, yet was capable of subtle human expressions, in other words, we had a challenge. The cat also had to be stylistically tuned in each shot. This was a complex process and involved the fine tweaking of its fur's qualities. Our team really raised the bar to make the cat look as good as it does."

The 3D animation was carried out in Maya, rendered in Renderman and composited in Flame. The 3D team split the renders from Maya into individual lighting passes so that Flame artist Eric Schaechter could fine tune, light and balance. "This allowed Eric a chance to essentially re-light the character within the Flame suite, which helps the animation sit perfectly within the live action." Added Downs "It also speeds up the process helping time pressures. And as always, Eric added his own magic to take our 3D further."

As both commercials begin going to air Linda Lum concluded, "I believe we have captured a very sweet likeable character that both children and adults alike would want to take home."

Commenting on the project as a whole Clinton Downs said, "It was great working with a client, producer and director that we really clicked with and who trusted us creatively, making the whole job a very enjoyable and successful one."