Sep 21, 2018

This is the best Gorillaz has ever seen in CG - and it's a watch ad

Jamie Hewlett's iconic Gorillaz characters are headlining a new mini-episodic ad campaign for watch maker G-Shock.

The first of three one-minute ads, featuring a guest appearance by G-Shock watch creator Kikuo Ibe, launched this week:

It's directed by Brutus, a French animation collective formed in 2014 by Sébastien Iglesias, Aurélien Duhayon, Thibaud Clergue, and Camille Perrin, and produced by two U.K. animation companies – Feed Me Light and Binkink.

The piece is one of the most effective cg translations of Hewlett's work that we've seen to date, and does a great job of preserving the graphic qualities that make his illustrations interesting to look at. There's other fascinating creative choices throughout, including real-world textures mixed into the cg, which creates a photocollage effect, and a limited approach to animation, which recalls anime timing more than anything seen in standard Western advertising.

The making-of video below shows more of the production process for the campaign:

Production Company Production Company: Blinkink & Feed Me Light Director: Brutus Creative Director: Jamie Hewlett, Denis Bodart (Feed Me Light) Producers: Georgina Fillmore (Blinkink), Jenny Wells, Michael Parks (Feed Me Light) Executive Producers: Bart Yates (Blinkink), Kiri Haggart (Feed Me Light)

Sound Sound Company: Felt Music Mix: Remi Kabaka, Sébastien Iglesias

Animation Animation Company: Feed Me Light Design: Sébastien Iglesias, Aurélien Duhayon, Thibaud Clergue, Camille Perrin Texture Artist: Sébastien Iglesias, Camille Perrin, Jérémi Boutelet, Florent Rousseau, Sophie Blayrat, Olivier Pirard, Thomas Batlle Rigging: Ludovic Habas CG Supervisor: Olivier Pirard, David Calvet (Secondary) Animation: William Lorton, Aurélien Duhayon, Thibaud Clergue, Sébastien Iglesias Compositing: Denis Bouyer, Jérémi Boutelet, Sébastien Iglesias, Camille Perrin 3D Modelling: Felipe Hansen, Florent Rousseau, Jérémi Boutelet, Olivier Pirard, Thibaud Clergue Lighting: Olivier Pirard, Camille Perrin, Jérémi Boutelet, Denis Bodart Matte Painting: Sébastien Iglesias, Jérémi Boutelet, Camille Perrin Animatics: Thibaud Clergue, Aurélien Duhayon Storyboard Artist: Sébastien Iglesias, Aurélien Duhayon, Gervais Merryweather