R!OT has created the CGI tornado for a new spot for Chevrolet's Monte Carlo. The spot starts out with a realistic tornado traveling down an urban street. The twister final stops backs up and parks in a parking spot. After the storm cloud settles and reveals the Monte Carlo SS, Warner Bros.' animated character the Tasmanian Devil hops out of the car and drops change into the meter. "The idea was to create a realistic tornado in order to take the audience by surprise at the end," said ad agency Campbell-Ewald's executive producer Craig Mungons. R!OT compositor Chris Jones said, "Our task was to create a 'gentle' tornado." R!OT lead animator Rob Hubbard added, "When you have a tornado, and all the debris it generates, and have to fit it into one-half of a city street, and make it believable as it drives by camera, it is a major challenge." Plum Productions' Nick Piper directed the live-action portion and worked with compositors Kiki Chansamone and Karl Kirschenman on transferring the background scene from film to digital video multiple times in order to color correct the street, buildings, car and other aspects of the environment separately.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
