The making of Brut

The shoot was undertaken with a Red One camera at Proaction Studios in Dubai.

Perhaps one of the biggest logistical challenges of this shoot was choosing a female model, who could perform this role.

“Once the modeling agencies in Dubai found out that we were working on a commercial for a client in Australia, the charge for their local model went up to US $3000. It was almost four times what they usually charge us in Dubai. What’s worse was all three agencies sent us the same model with different prices and she didn’t meet any of our specifications. Eventually, we flew in a professional model from Australia and the whole exercise including flight, accommodation and her charges cost us US $3000. It was well worth the effort.”

In the studio, the model, Tara had to interact with a much taller male model.

“We found the male model here in Dubai and he was clothed in a green screen for the purpose. Then, in post, we replaced him with the robot; his perspective and motion were matched, enabling us to achieve the final effect,” explains Mulder.

Proaction Studios prepared a smooth green background for the purpose. All the camera moves would be simulated for real, tracked in 3D and then used in the TVC to ensure natural live motion.

The next stage was compositing and matching of the shot. At this stage, all of the rendering for the background had been completed.

“The client opted for a very open shiny steel environment, where the “Brutaliser” was to convert all the selected elements into the product. The character was hand animated as they felt they would get a much better and more heavy result in terms of his movements,” explains Mulder.

“Alireza Bidar, our texturer and render took on the challenge to oversee the rendering. Initial tests for frame time came in at 25 minutes a frame. But that was optimistic, as some frames ended up taking 45 minutes a frame. With 64 processors running around the clock for three weeks, our team managed to pulled it off. The end result was composited together in Shake with edit and grade done with Colour and Final Cut Pro,” explains Mudville.

The commercial was produced within two months and was broadcast on FTA channels in Australia and New Zealand.

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