Computer Graphics World

■ ■ ■ ■ Broadcast February 2009 34 ears ago, advertising campaigns for cars were about one thing, the ve- hicle. Today, the ads tend to focus on the experience the vehicle off ers, with glimpses of the car, truck, or SUV as it traverses a picturesque landscape. How- ever, when it came to devising a multi- media campaign for the Honda Fit, the creative team at advertising agency Rubin Postaer & Associates was determined to throw out the car-commercial rule book. After all, leaf-covered roads, postcard-per- fect mountains, and pure beauty shots just didn't "fi t" the vehicle's brand. " e agency wanted something uniquely stylized, and we wanted to push the boat out a bit," says Digital Domain's Brad Park- er, who, along with Eric Barba, directed the spot. " ey wanted us to create a really dif- ferent look and step it up a notch or two." And step it up they did. Rather than use live action or a photoreal approach, Parker and Barba used a highly stylized look cre- ated with computer graphics that places a 3D Honda Fit within surreal CG environ- ments and scenes. "We focused on making the spots origi- nal, unusual, and cool—which really set the tone for the brand," Parker says. In fact, Parker and Barba have had a history of making "cool" ads for Honda, albeit as visual eff ects supervisors as op- posed to directors. is time, they took on all those roles. "We had direct contact with the agency and the client, and could tailor the team to the vision we had," says Parker. "We had the freedom to come up with ideas, and we knew exactly how to execute them. Working with outside directors is great, but sometimes it is hard to know what they really want and where they want to go with something."

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