Following on his work for Mercedes-Benz and Acura (here and here), Nexus director Shane Griffin turns his motion talents to the Genesis brand in this tightly crafted CG spot commissioned thru LA agency Innocean.

Shane Griffin: “The film speaks about the DNA of Genesis, and something at the core of the brand is this two-line motif. We see it across the product design, along the road surface it drives on, and the tire marks it leaves in its wake – so we wanted to subconsciously weave it into every scene.

“Then we layered on the element of surprise, how can we keep reinventing the way we see these lines, what new visual tricks can we employ, while keeping it somewhat subconscious. It became a delightful puzzle to solve.
 

“We designed the FX in a very free and unbound way, more so creating a feeling rather than a particular effect, after all, how do you depict the essence of an idea, or visualize creativity?”

 
“In the spot, we weave between consumer vehicles and concept cars, showing how this DNA is shared across all their product touch points, whether it be a sedan, a concept SUV, a Le Mans racer, or a high end chauffeur car, the Genesis design language remains a constant.

“Each car and each world called for a unique look, so a traditional edit felt a little jarring – the smooth transitions were a creative choice to unify these worlds, making it feel like a fever dream.

“Technically, we designed the FX in a very free and unbound way, more so creating a feeling rather than a particular effect, after all, how do you depict the essence of an idea, or visualize creativity? You can’t really, so you rely on translating an emotion with movement.

“When we started the project, we had a rough idea to use lots of volume FX for the transitions, clouds, smoke, ink, etc. So we prototyped a lot of these (which you can see in the process reel), and as the elements became closer to the Genesis DNA, we would find a place to integrate it into the story. We used Embergen to prototype a lot of these FX, before moving them to Houdini.”

Watch the process reel:
 

 
 

 
Client: Genesis

Agency: Innocean
COO: Jason Sperling
SVP, ECD: Brandon Mugar
GCD: Cary Ruby, Martins Zelcs
ACD: John Kritch
Senior copywriter: Nick Cade
SVP Head of Integrated Production: Nicolette Spencer
SVP, Head of Content Production: Melissa Moore
VP, Executive Producer: Brandon Boerner

Production: Nexus Studios
Director: Shane Griffin
EP: Kathy Tishler
Sr Producer: Isaac Karsen, Rebecca Archer
Studio Producer: Derek Walsh
Production Coordinator: Ismay Bickerton
Project Lead: Fabien Glasse
Compositing Lead: Sacha Danjou
Compositor: Alex Gaudiano, Hugo Vieites Caamaño, Zsolt Sebok
3D Animator: Marylou Mao,
3D Generalist: Eder de Souza, Lucas De Miguel, James Drummond, Andy Spence
Modeling/Texturing: Yann Vlamynck, Jack Taylor
Designer: Christoph Strohfeld, Darren Fereday, Melanie Climent, Jean-David Solon
Rigger: Niko Rossi
Matte Painter: Tanguy Lemmonier
VFX: Philipp Pavlov, Daniel Larrosa
Lighting/Rendering: Carl Kenyon, Darren Rolmanis, Patrick Hearn
Editor: Zaki Fulford
VFX Editor: Andrea Zantiras
Head of Production: Rachel Moss
Head of Studio: German Diez
Head of Editorial: Dave Slade
Head of Resourcing: Natalie Busuttil
Resource Manager: Zachary Goldman
Creative Manager: Jade Duncan Knight
PR/Marketing: Nancy Edmondson, Bruce Bigg, Alyaa Ridha

Previz animatic/Animation: Screen Scene

Grade: Trafik
Colorist: Daniel De Vue
Producer: Geoff Linville

Finishing: Trafik
Artist: Claus Hansen
Producer: John Perry Edson III

Music: DAHOUSE
Composer: Lucas Mayer
Executive Producer: Carol Masseti

Sound Studio: Echolab
Sound designer: Gavin Little

Mix: Lime Studios
Mixer: Zac Fisher