Apparently the director of two new Cadillac spots, Minted Content’s David Leitch, started out as a stunt performer. In fact, he was actually Brad Pitt’s stunt double five times. Besides being a good-looking guy, Leitch clearly knows stunts and it shows in this action-packed, heart-racing Reel Ad of the Week from Leo Burnett, Detroit.
Both spots, which fall under the campaign of “Make Your Way,” debuted during the Academy Awards.
Embodying the General Motors-owned luxury brand’s aim at linking the brand with people of “unwavering self-determination” the campaign was introduced by Oscar®-winning actress Regina King and celebrates the grit of those who pave their own way to success.
The spot, “No Barriers” gives a little more than a nod to the stunt men and women of the film industry as the 60-second cinematic films follows various models of Cadillacs driving through the city with people seemingly able to sense them from wherever they are.
Set to the tune of “Nobody Speak” by DJ Shadow featuring Run the Jewels, the spot follows women and men as they run out and try to follow the vehicles. One woman jumps up on her desk at work, then crashes through a window. A guy in the library smashes through a bookcase and jumps over a railing to the floor below. Two people chase after the cars in a parking garage, while one woman jumps off an overpass. Watch below:
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eightvfx Gets in on Action
Of course a spot like this requires a vast array of VFX. Award-winning post-production studio eightvfx filled Reel 360 in on how they brought this spot to life.
“We had to make the world a little surrealistic by modifying the environment, adding colors on buildings and improving the already fantastic performances of the stunts,” shared eightvfx Executive Producer and Managing Partner Baptiste Andrieux.
Using a carefully strategized, clever combination of Houdini, Maya, Nuke, and Flame technology, eightvfx’s CG and 2D team created the meteoric glass door explosion, enhancing the particle effects and adding the new model of car in post. Comprehensively, five different locations existed where photorealistic VFX had to be integrated to give the spot the blockbuster effects.
“The entire team at eightvfx enjoyed working with the client and production teams to create the energetic spots packed with intensity for the Cadillac brand. Having worked with Leo Burnett Detroit EP Patrick O’ Brien previously made collaboration on this campaign a seamless experience, from start to finish. We had some unexpected challenges arise towards the end of the project and without his dexterity, it would have been much more arduous,” added Ryan Dahlman, VFX Producer, eightvfx.
The spot is exciting to watch and pulled us in. Something apparently the Oscar broadcast did not. That’s why this is our “Reel Ad of the Week.”
CREDITS:
CLIENT: Cadillac
AGENCY: Leo Burnett Detroit
- CCO: Bob Winter
- VP Group Acct. Director: Scott Durday
- EP: Patrick O’Brien
- Acct. Supervisor: Maggie Decker
- CDs: Austin Muncy, Rob Rooney
- Agency Producer: Susan Rabaut
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Minted Content
- Executive Producer: Lance O’ Connor
- Director: David Leitch
EDIT: Cut + Run
- Editor: Steve Gandolfi
POST / VFX : eightvfx
- VFX Supervisor: Jean-Marc Demmer
- Executive Producer: Baptiste Andrieux
- Producer: Ryan Dahlman
- Flame Lead: Adrien Servadio
- Flame Artists: Joe Chiao & Vincent Blin
- Nuke Compositor: Alex Taylor & Shaun Tsou
- FX Artists: Yu Fuji & Fred Hopp
- CG Sup: Ben Sartori
- Modeler: Leticia Saldana
- Animator/Rigger: Thomas Lopez
COLOR: Company 3
- Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld
SOUND: Lime Studios
SOURCE: eightvfx
