Director Mark Zibert, whose Sick Kids “Be A Light” reset the bar for the emotional power of advertising, delivers another heart-stopper here for the Terry Fox Foundation with Toronto Studio Tantrum tackling the delicate VFX.

If you’re not Canadian you may not know who cancer research icon Terry Fox was or understand the resonance of The Tragically Hip’s 1992 classic “Courage”, but as long you have a heartbeat I’m sure you’ll find the combination, as presented here in a single two-minute shot, both moving and motivating.

Dominik Bochenski, founder/ECD at Tantrum: “Using archival images of Terry Fox as reference, our VFX artists carefully built Terry’s likeness using 3D digital sculpting, hand-painted skin textures, detailed animation, and subtle AI enhancement. These effects were then seamlessly overlaid onto our body double’s face, incorporating his facial performance and breathing.

“Swapping the face of someone as recognized as Terry was already a significant technical hurdle, but doing it in one, uninterrupted shot made it even more complex. Adding another layer of difficulty was the fact our face swap began with an intimate close-up and was filmed using an anamorphic zoom lens,
 

“Traditional CG techniques formed the backbone of the work, with AI strategically integrated to add the final level of polish. It was a massive challenge, but we’re proud of how it all came together.”

 
“Given our previous experience with machine learning-based face swaps, we knew the limitations — in this case, the lack of high-quality reference images of Terry. When trained on such limited source material, AI methods produced either artificial-looking results or outright distorted, glitchy ones. So, we built the effect from the ground up using a hands-on, traditional 3D approach.

“Head tracking was especially challenging. Unlike standard object tracking, we had to account for subtle but crucial shifts — head tilts, shoulder connections, and natural breathing. Even the slightest misalignment would immediately break the illusion.

“Capturing Terry’s likeness under our specific lensing and lighting conditions required extensive refinement, with constant iterations to fine-tune every detail. His skin textures and shaders were carefully crafted to match his defining features while maintaining a photo-realistic look that worked with the anamorphic lens.

“Animation was another key focus. While the actor’s performance provided a solid foundation, Terry’s expressions were distinct enough that we had to adjust them manually. Every small movement mattered — too little and he felt stiff; too much and he no longer looked like himself. Finding the right balance was crucial.

“With the CG foundation in place, we leveraged AI tools to bring an additional layer of refinement. Training machine-learning models on our CG renders allowed us to generate a layer that reinforced Terry’s likeness. By strategically blending elements of these AI-generated images with our CG composites, we enhanced the realism in a way that would have been difficult to achieve through traditional methods alone.”
 
 

 
Client: Terry Fox Foundation

Agency: Diamond Marketing

Production: Scouts Honour
Director: Mark Zibert

EP: Simon Dragland, Rita Popielak
Director of Photography: Mark Zibert, Eric Kaskens
Creative Research: Tricia Zaremba
Production Designer: 
Jordan Worth
Wardrobe: Kate Day

VFX/post: Tantrum Studio

VFX Supervisor: Dominik Bochenski
EP: Victoria Holt
Producer: Rebecca MacKillop
Lead CG: Dominik Wojtarowicz
CG: Rogerio Miyagi, Marie Kubo
Modeler: Mirosław Gołofit, Grzegorz Flaga
Rig: Monika Kołcz
Additional rigging: Louis Vottero
Tracking: Kenny Yong
Animator: Ale Martins
Compositor: Davide Di Santo, Bala D., Ohji Inoue

Editorial: Nimio Pere
Editor: Graham Chisholm
Assistant Editor: Laura Corredor

EP: Jenna Edwards

Color: Alter Ego

Senior Colorist: Wade Odlum
Senior Producer: Genna McAuliffe

Producer: Spencer Butt

Casting: Jigsaw Casting
Casting Director: Shasta Lutz

Music Company: Walker
Music: The Tragically Hip “Courage – For Hugh MacLennan”
Cover Arrangement: Jonas Bonnetta