Agency Saatchi & Saatchi, Riff Raff director Finn Keenan, and The Mill VFX crew in London assemble to pack the leader of the Autobots off on a road trip, the latest in a series of comic spots for UK insurance provider Direct Line.

Fabian Frank, head of CG at The Mill in London: “The shoot took place over six days in Cape Town, South Africa. One of the issues we faced was the sheer size of Optimus Prime; using Mill Scout and a stand-in truck, we could perfectly line up the frames and get an idea of his position and scale on location.

“We ultimately had to rig him in the Mill pipeline to allow for the highly detailed and complex transformations from Autobot to his Truck shape.”

“Optimus Prime’s Time Off” is the fourth in the Direct Line ‘We’re On It’ campaign which finds pop cultures characters thwarted in their attempts to save the day by the company’s amazing service.

Watch the first three spots (starring RoboCop, Donatello, and Bumble Bee).
 

 
Client: Direct Line

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Producer: Sam Robinson

Production: Riff Raff Films
Director: Finn Keenan
Producer: Jane Tredget
EP: Matthew Clyde
DOP: Jess Hall

VFX/post: The Mill
Creative Director: Alex Lovejoy
VFX Supervisor: Alex Lovejoy/Fabian Frank
Executive Producer: Ryan Hancocks
Shoot Supervisor: Alex Lovejoy/Fabian Frank
2D Lead Artist: Alex Lovejoy
3D Lead Artist: Fabian Frank
2D Artist: Ed Taylor, Alfie Vaughan, Leanne Plertersky, Vanessa Duquesnay, Mithun Alex
Line Producer: Dipesh Gajjarr
Production Coordinators: Ankita Tare, Aditi Tiwari, Aditi Tiwari, Neelam Ulhas Terdalkar, Mohit Bhomia
Compositor Lead: Pratyush Paruchuri
Compositor Supervisor: Rashabh Ramesh Butani
Compositor: Saravanan D
Prep Leads: Anand Daunde, Bhushan Thakur
Prep Supervisor: Manmohan Singh
Prep Artists: Devappa Hadpad, Mohammad Rabban, Prashant Kamble, Ritesh Patil, Sagar Dasgaonkar, Sangram Londhe, Sikandar Shaikh, Utkarsh Indis
Roto Leads: Moumita Ganesh Pratihar, Mahendranatha Reddy
Roto Supervisors: Rohit Charde, Sivakumar R
Roto Artists: Eganathan Kuppan, G Maniraj, Kishan R Katrimal, Mayur Chandrakant Kothawade, Md.moinuddin Ansari, Onkar Ghatage, Pawan Singh, Sanket Suresh Mhatre, Shamim Zamir Khan
Matchmove Lead: Smijumon Viswanathan
Matchmove Supervisor: Murali Krishna Reddy
Matchmove Artists: Ankit Dheraj Toppo, Giri prasath, Nallur Suhas Bhat, Nishant Ekka, Pabitra Kumar Sahoo, Suman Sahu, Sushant Lavhande
Asset Lead: Jaspreet Kaur Dua,
Asset Supervisor: Vaibhav Gupta
Assets Artists: Deepesh Mansukh Jadhav, Laxmi Rai, Manda Jagadeesh, Prakhar Kulshreshtha, Rachit Bhatia, Sunku Ayusha

Edit: Final Cut
Editor: Sam Bould

Audio: String & Tins
Sound designer: Adam Smyth