Kawasaki’s first trip to the Big Game provides the Mill with a high profile showcase for their CG creature and grooming talents as they help Hungry Man directors Dave Laden and Christopher Gruse pay cheeky tribute to a certain 1980s hairstyle.

Filmed over two days in Vancouver, the spot features digital versions of an eagle, bear, and turtle (plus the real Stone Cold Steve Austin) who all grow instant mullets thanks to the mystical coiffing powers of the Kawasaki RIDGE UTV.

Christian Nielsen, CD at The Mill: “We’re thrilled to have worked on this unique project. Our team used the latest in-house grooming tools and pipeline to ensure each mullet was perfectly tailored to match the characters’ personalities and styles.”

Watch the BTS video:
 

 
 

 
Client: Kawasaki Motors Corp.

Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

Production: Hungry Man
Director: Dave Laden, Christopher Gruse
Managing Partner/EP: Caleb Dewart
Partner/EP: Kim Dellara
Heads of Production: Franchesca McDowell, Marian Harkness
DoP: Ken Seng
Production designer: Katherine Reynolds

VFX: The Mill
Creative Director: Christian Nielsen, James Allen
VFX Supervisor: Christian Nielsen
DFX Supervisor: Vaibhav Gupta
Executive Producer: Hillary Thomas
Producer: Katie Buckley, Warwick Hewett
Project Manager: Anuradha Behera
Associate Producer (BLR): Gauri Dilip Kulkarni
Production Coordinator (BLR): Rihza Ibrahimkutty
Shoot Supervisor: Christian Nielsen
2D Lead Artist: James Allen
2D Lead Artist (BLR) : Yogesh Ahire, Prasanta Maiti, Asif Khurshid Alam Ansari, Noushad Kallingal, Udaykiran Chowdary, Mayank Shekhar Tiwari
3D Lead Artist: Jessica Groom Shelton, Will Arias
3D Lead (BLR): Karanveer Mahendru, Smijumon Viswanathan, Vikas Soni, Dakoju Shashi Kumar, Sandeep Kumar Goje, Sukanta Chakraborty, Garlapati Yeswanth, Rakesh Herurkar, Biswajit Tarafder
2D Artist:
Comp: Pujan Chheda, Gregory VanZyl
2D Artist Comp (BLR): Jeril C Joseph
Roto (BLR): Amara Gokul Sainath, Anita Khandare, Antony Bright K, Anurag Singh, Ashish Sanjay Hiwale, Hetal Agarwala, Hrushikesh Tarade, Karthik A, Kavarakuntla Vishnu Prasad, Nagarjun Sadashiv Bhalerao, Nilesh Kailash Netke, Pathan Md Nazeer Khan, Prasad Thorve, Raghvendra Singh, Ramachandran Kannappan, Ruthala Narsimha Murthy, Sandeep Mishra, Satish Yadav, Shaik Ravoof Basha, Shamim Zamir Khan, Shanu Soni, Sushil Palai, Tushar Suresh Bhat,
Paint (BLR): Aditya Kumar, Akshay Suresh Savardekar, Ashutosh Ramdas Prajapati, Avinash Sangate, Kandala Maniteja, Kannan R, Laxman Janardhan Pawar, Mohit Pal, Nilesh Patil, Pradeep Kankanala, Sachin Rameshwar Mundhe, Sagar Dasgaonkar, Sarika Jadhav, Sikandar Shaikh, Yellamilli Sai Hari Sandeep
3D Artist: Daniel Lee, Kris Costa, Nitesh Nagda, Lorena Cano Acosta, Yang Wu
Asset Artist (BLR): Animesh Gogoi, Sandeep Kumar Yadav, Kailash Pol, Pratik Bhade
Matchmove (BLR): Ankita Chanda, Arjun Babu, Jaswantsingh Nikam, Rais Pinjari, Rajkumar Gupta,, Swapnil Madhukar Chavan, Viraj Tendulkar
Animation (BLR): Badireddy Sri Charan, Devadathan KC, Nisham Khan, Ravi Panwar
Rigging (BLR): Sandeepkumar Madival
FX (BLR): Ashutosh Shivdas
Finishing Artist: James Allen
Designers: Greg Rubner

Color: The Mill
Colorist: Paul Yacono
Executive Producer, Colour: Krista Staudt
Head of Production: Brandee Probasco
Colour Producer: Denise Brown
Colour Assist: Jacob Suffern, Daymian Mejia

Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Lauren D
Edit Assist: Sam Slavkin
Additional: Denice Hutton, Janae Abraham

Audio/Sound Design: Lime Studios