Locomotion Creates Peter Andre Arena Tour Visuals – The Robotic Phoenix

 

Locomotion’s 3D/ VFX team wanted to create a powerful finale to Nick Addison’s opening titles for Peter Andre’s arena tour based on a creative briefing with Dave Palmer of Shameless Talent. The story of the phoenix, rising from the flames, reborn with greater strength was selected to represent the artist’s own rise to great fame and public adoration after coming through his own trials of personal adversity. However, our own trial would be to complete the animation from concept design to final HD delivery in just 10 days.

Taking inspiration from a variety of artistic depictions of the phoenix creature, concept designers George Belcher and Danny Coster also wanted to reflect Peter Andre’s image by incorporating his defined physique into the design. For the bird-like aspects of the design, they researched and took reference from the images and movement of raptors like the owl, eagle and red kite; as well as the shape of a bat’s wings as it wraps around its body.

The client further specified a robotic rather than flame and feathered look for the mythical bird. This vision paid homage to the classic Michael Jackson tour videos which depicted the pop star as a high tech robot so convincing that the audience wondered if they were at first seeing the pop star or a sophisticated machine. The team drew reference from the images of Japanse Gojira monster movies, Robocop, Terminator, as well as metal sculptures of warriors, eagles and even automobile engines to further inspire the development of their design.

The CGI phoenix was created by lead animator Tony Lee based on Locomotion’s concept art, while being mindful of how such a creature could be animated. Once the phoenix was rigged, the 3D team performed tests on the wings and joint systems to get the wings to unfurl, fan out and flap in an organic way. The challenge of a short production time encouraged the VFX team to seek simple solutions using as few controllers as possible to generate the wing movements.

For the audio element of the piece, the clients supplied a track from John William’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The animators were able to use the music to time the action of the phoenix’s movements. The next stage was to rig the rest of the creature, setting up test cycles for the wing and body movements. During this process, the lead animator and VFX supervisor wanted to get a feel of how it would move, often by acting out bird and pterodactyl-like movements much to the amusement of the production office. Also, as our client was working remotely with Peter Andre on other segments of the show, it was important that he was kept abreast of all the work in progress through Locomotion’s online review and approval system. Locomotion embraced the challenge to create a dramatic performance of the animated, mythical creature in line with the soundtrack. We look forward to seeing it wow the arena crowds, increasing their excitement for Peter Andre’s performance.

To view the animation, check out our showcase page or click here.

For more information on Peter Andre’s arena tour, visit his website.

Check out the December issue of Televisual (in print) for more about the tour visuals and our Press page for a glimpse of the article.

Video Focus – Final Cut Pro Magazine, interview May 2010.

Locomotion Designs Televisual Front Cover. April 2010.

Based on the sterling work our team did for the Televisual Facilities Top 50 competition, Locomotion were exclusively approached by Televisual’s Jake Bickerton to design the front cover of April’s Money Issue.
We’re very proud that our work is gracing the front cover of one of the industries best regarded journals and are delighted that the gang at Televisual are so pleased with the results.

Credits:
Design and Illustration: Dan Coster and George Belcher.

Hot off the press…

Spring has sprung and the sun is in the sky… well today anyway…

After the gloomy cold winter, spring has been much anticipated and heralds the start of new growth and opportunities for the media industry. It therefore seems entirely fitting to officially announce the recent, management buyout of Locomotion London by MD Dan Coster and FD Paul Oxley.

This de-coupling from the Storyboards Harpers Group signals an exciting time for Locomotion, as Dan Coster explains:

“Paul and I are really excited that we have completed the acquisition of Locomotion and that we can now build on its reputation as an independent facility that mixes great creative talent with end to end know-how. Locomotion has always produced great post, but what we’re growing a reputation for is our creative development for all media, regardless of the end platform.
What sets us apart from more traditional post houses is our co-creative approach. Getting involved in the pre-production and pitch stage of projects gives us the opportunity to work with, not for the agency, brand or broadcaster or as an extension of their own creative department.  Drawing on our team’s talents and experience of 2d, 3d animation, design, editing, vfx direction and also our ability to flex and scale our facility with great talent is the key to our growing success”.

As part of the new vision, Dan Coster will head up the creative team as Creative Director, alongside his existing role as MD.

Locomotion rocks CBBC’s BAMZOOKi Street Rules

Locomotion has delivered another fantastic CBBC series for the BBC.

Bamzooki Street Rules (13 x 28 min) presented by Barney Harwood and Gemma Hunt features four teams of three contestants competing with their Zooks in tests of speed, strength and agility.  What’s a Zook you ask?  Zooks are virtual creatures created by the contestants using 3-D primitives designed by Gameware Development.  Fans can download the Zook kit from the CBBC website to create their own Zooks, competing to enter the leagues and gallery of most viewed and downloaded Zooks.

Locomotion worked closely with the CBBC team bring to life this new twist on this hugely popular children’s series which started in 2004 as an in-studio virtual Robot Wars.  Now into its fourth series, ‘Bamzooki Street Rules’ pumps up the scale of the Zooks and increases the stakes for the competitors by taking their virtual creatures to outdoor as well as indoor challenges.

During game-play, the contestants shout commands to their Zooks to control their creatures as they battle it out for glory.  The competition starts with an outdoor street race that shows off the augmented reality element of this clever kid’s series. Locomotion’s editors created picture-in-picture effects to help viewers keep track of the action and tie-in the identity of each zook with its team.  Once the Zooks cross the finish line, the teams enter the secret Bamzooki headquarters to compete in progressive levels of challenges like sumo bouts, capture the flag, obstacle courses, elimination rounds and a final roof top race.

Bamzooki Street Rules was filmed at Pinewood Studios in it’s mixed reality studio which enabled virtual reality game play to be recorded in camera.  The show also features dramatic intros, outdoor scenes, CGI fly-throughs, celebrity cameos and interviews with the house Zooks by Zook expert, Dr. Vigo.

Locomotion edited, graded and composited together the many, varied components to enhance the augmented reality experience for viewers.

Bamzooki Street Rules is on CBBC Wednesdays at 17:15 and Saturdays at 9:30 through February 2010 and BBC iPlayer

Credits:
Editors: Miland Suman, Graham Carr
Online and finishing: Alex Hare, Miland Suman, Lee Bamsey
Series Producer: Rupert Harris
Producer: Lucy Youngman
Director: Jason Garbett
Executive Producer for Locomotion: Danny Coster
Line Producer for Locomotion: Jen Reznick

Campaign ‘Insiders Guide to Production’. November 2008.

Campaign’s annual Insider’s Guide to Production is out and our very own MD Danny Coster can be found talking about the ‘Personal Trainer approach’ to developing successful creative relationships between post houses and agencies. Click the image above to enlarge in another window and find out what good post partners should bring to any project.