A combination of coding academy and personalized training, this e-learning platform provides coding courses via live 1-on-1 instruction for kids. The challenge was to create a fantastical world representative of a child's imagination that our young star could inhabit. Delving into the digital world she creates, we are introduced to a code-breathing dragon called a "boomboxasaurus" - part boombox, part flying dinosaur.
Filming and Acquisition
The original concept called for a kid to enter into, and be transformed by, a digital fantasy world. This meant only the first few shots needed to be filmed with the talent until the transformation, after which we could fully control the character in post. Shots were prevized for general composition and timing. We created a full stringout of the commercial with 3D characters and temp voice-over to help facilitate the shoot. Live-action was shot on stage against green, while the facial capture was done from our studio office.
Boombox Stereo Design
You can see the original boombox design was intended to incorporate the dinosaur components in a more clear manner (ie., face, ears, feet). The final design was simplified, nodding toward a young gaming aesthetic, and animated to disassemble upon contact.
A Musical-Toy-Dragon
The character design for the Boomboxasaurus went through several focused iterations lead by Design Director, Brandon Parvini, and fleshed out by our character artists. You can see the intentionality and nuanced design elements in creating a toy-like creature with stereo components, that could be physically assembled by a child. Once the modeling and rigging were complete, it was time to make this invention fly.
Character Design
Basic reference stills were captured on set to help guide the 3d modeling and design of our digital, cartoonized talent.
Facial Capture, Rotomation
The overall design language for the project was low poly gaming environments with simplified cel shading. Once the live-action talent transforms to their digitized avatars, we utilized a combination of facial capture and rotomation for the faces/dialogue. The facial capture rigs were custom 3D printed to house our Dragon Touch 4k Action Cameras and controlled with an iPad. Stabilized footage of the synced faces was then prepped for rotoscoped animation that was then mapped back onto our 3D characters.
Hybrid workflows such as this allows for multiple artists and techniques to be combined to create unique looks. By staying software agonostic and utilizing various disciplines, including live-action, mograph, 3D and cel animation - you can see the fresh and playful execution styles that are possible.
Production Co: Lord Danger
Director: Mike Diva
Producer: Angel Najarian
Design/Anim: BEMO
Rotomation: ArtBelly
Executive Producer: Brandon Hirzel
Design/Creative Director: Brandon Parvini
Senior Artists: Artem Otvodenkov, William Mendoza
Editor: Andrew Henry
Co-Director (Facial Capture)
VFX Supervisor
Post Production Supervisor
TD, Pipeline, Workflow Dev