Venice, Calif.-based visual effects studio The Mission tapped into the internal heat of competition in the new :30 “Frozen” for Nike and Dick’s Sporting Goods via ad agency Wieden+Kennedy. The spot features a variety of impetuous athletes fiercely battling the frozen elements to train for their respective sports. The Mission handled comprehensive VFX for the spot, including on-set supervision, color correction, extensive composite work and CG enhancements of the practical snow.
To heighten the crispness of the icy elements featured throughout, The Mission’s creative director Rob Trent and his team employed meticulous CG, including an entirely CG shot with ice crystals comped onto a fence, mist and breath for the athletes and CG snow. Background textural elements including skylines and trees were comped in throughout the spot as well as “winterizing” a green field with a CG blanket of snow.
“Sitting there in the 90 degree heat of the Detroit summer and watching the athletes sweat through their two-hour shoot windows, it was fun to imagine the transformation we would achieve in the end,” Trent said. “Humid, green grass and sunny, dusk skies would become crusty snowpacks in a cold, moody void. Careful preparation with the DP was taken so that the natural lighting was diffused enough to match the end environment.”
