Bi-coastal creative shop Brickyard VFX recently completed work on a new commercial for Callaway Golf and Dick’s Sporting Goods through Denver, Colo. agency Factory Design Labs. The new spot, “Truck to Store,” features pro golfer Gary Woodland and required extensive visual effects to appear as if it were set up and captured in one continuous take.
Director Josh Taft of Supply & Demand shot three Steadicam plates: one of Woodland walking off a driving range, then into a tractor-trailer mobile Callaway shop that transitions into a Dick’s Sporting Goods store and finally back out onto a golf tee.
“While the spot appears to be relatively simple, it was an incredible amount of retiming and CG to make everything fit together and appear as if it were one long take,” said Dave Waller, co-founder and VFX supervisor, Brickyard VFX.
In order to accommodate the shooting requirements, a hole had to be made through the wall for the cameraman to follow Woodland’s trajectory. The hole had to be repaired digitally, and Brickyard VFX artists recreated the entire back of the Dick’s Sporting Goods store in CG. The spot also required extensive digital crowd replication, which Brickyard artist Robin Hobart did by building digital figures, matching shot lighting and placing them seamlessly into the shot. The semi-truck that appears in the spot, though originally captured in camera, was also removed and completely replaced by a digital recreation.
