NASCAR – 75th Anniversary

How do you celebrate a milestone anniversary? With an epic film, of course. In collaboration with agency 77 Ventures Creative…
NASCAR "75th Anniversary"
Case Study

How do you celebrate a milestone anniversary? With an epic film, of course.

In collaboration with agency 77 Ventures Creative and director Mark Jenkinson of Imperial Woodpecker, our artists, led by Creative Director Chris Bernier, crafted NASCAR's 75th anniversary film by recreating some of the sport’s most memorable moments.

Shot over several days in Barstow, California, the spot combines original footage, historical highlights and reenactments, and VFX. Our artists brought these historical events to life using 3D models, Houdini with custom simulations, and more. Topping off the film is a grade by Mill Colourist Philip Hambi.

Creative Director Chris Bernier goes further in-depth into the exhilarating spot below.

Another important element to the spot was the 75 car. In the script, the 75 car that represented the 75 year history of NASCAR and served as a transitional element that transported us into each iconic moment. The 75 car was to peel its exterior away revealing the famous car from the moment underneath. A custom detailed 3D 75 car was modeled in 3 versions, Chevy, Ford, and Toyota. This 3D model was tracked onto filmed footage of a car and a peeling reveal was created in Houdini, with custom dust, smoke, and debris simulations to bring these transitions to life. Individual pieces were modeled and animated to pull away and reveal our classic moment car underneath. We worked closely with the director and agency to find just the right sense of speed, energy, and strength to emphasize the reveal of these historic moments.

The themes of history and excitement were what guided us through the process of making this film. We were focused on accurately representing the tracks in their moment while also bringing a life and excitement to them that elevated it beyond the historical footage that already exists.Chris Bernier, Creative Director

Behind the Scenes

In collaboration with agency 77 Ventures Creative and director Mark Jenkinson of Imperial Woodpecker, our artists, led by Creative Director Chris Bernier, crafted NASCAR's 75th anniversary film by recreating some of the sport’s most memorable moments.

Shot over several days in Barstow, California, the spot combines original footage, historical highlights and reenactments, and VFX. Our artists brought these historical events to life using 3D models, Houdini with custom simulations, and more.

Check out the breakdowns for the film below!

Interview with Colourist, Philip Hambi

What was the most exciting part of working on this spot?

NASCAR is iconic and has such a massive following in the US. Combine that with the fact that this film is a celebration of the last 75 years of the sport and it’s hard not to get excited! I’ve always been a fan of Mark’s work and being able to collaborate with him on this amazing project was very cool.

What were the biggest technical challenges while working on this?

The biggest technical challenge on this job was successfully executing the six different looks that defined the eras presented throughout the film. Fortunately, I had time on my side with this one, as it was posting for a few weeks at The Mill NYC office. This allowed me the rare opportunity to tinker with the grade to make sure that it was immaculate.

What was the creative process?

The creative process was as expected driven by Mark (Director) and Macgregor (Cinematographer) and their vision for the spot. The briefing from both Mark and Macgregor was comprehensive and insightful as it allowed me to immediately focus on what they were after and achieve it with relative ease.

Its key to remember that usually, with car commercials, there’s a requirement to deploy a load of shapes to really help the car POP. But NASCAR 75 is a celebration of the history of the sport and we’re not actually trying to sell the car. This meant that the priority and main focus of our work was on the narrative of the film and not the car and its design characteristic.

Did you learn anything new while working on this spot, especially while collaborating across The Mill sites?

This biggest take away is how awesome The Mill NYC office is. The work achieved by the NY team in the time that they had is genuinely incredible. So many of the shots had massive CG Stadium and crowd take overs and they’re all seamlessly integrated with the live action plate. This wasn’t the first job that I’d worked on with the New York office and I am constantly impressed with their super collaborative attitude.

Interview with Junior Artist, Jyothika S

What was the most exciting part of working on this spot?

One of the things which I was most excited about for the NASCAR spot was the transition of the car from one time period to another - the changes in the car skin. The idea of this project was interesting and challenging at the same time. I enjoyed working on the DMP for it.As an artist, I get a lot of interesting work which helps me keep learning. I’d like to work on more automotive projects in the future as well. 

What were the biggest technical challenges while working on this?

As a DMP artist, there weren't many technical challenges we faced, it was all about how captivating we could make the shots and how everything is visualized from a third person view. 

What was the creative process like for your department?

For us, the creative process is focused on the visualization, from a third-person perspective. Our imagination, reality, and fantasy combined creatively. My department not only creates the images but also creates a new set of visualizations. 

What’s been your career trajectory in VFX, have you worked on a lot of automotive projects before? How was this different?

I’ve been in the industry for nearly three years now. Working in VFX, and making art into a career, is interesting. VFX is the point where art becomes reality, and I am happy to be part of that art. I haven’t worked much on automotive projects - this is the first automotive project that I worked on as a 3D DMP artist. I'm thankful and happy to be a part of this project. 

Did you learn anything new while working on this spot, especially while collaborating across The Mill sites?

Yes, of course! This advertising industry has a great advantage because each project is different. Some things might be similar, but trust me, nothing is the same. Working on different kinds of projects is fun and interesting and allows for continuous learning and exploration as well.As a junior artist at The Mill, I thank my supervisor and my team, as they helped ensure I had a very nice experience working on the spot.

Credits
Credits

Agency
Agency: 77 Ventures Creative
CCO: Galen Bernard
ECD: Doug Hanshaw
Executive Producer: Kim Daniels
Managing Director (Account Manager): Meredith Weiss

Production Company
Production Company: Imperial Woodpecker
Director: Mark Jenkinson

VFX
VFX: The Mill
Executive Producer: Matthew Loranger
Creative Director: Chris Bernier
Senior Producer: Justin Matzen
Associate Producer: Ramya Shankar
Production Managers: Sourabh Dharmpurikar, Rushikesh Shelar, Atindriya Dasgupta
Production Coordinators: Paola Malo, Ankita Mitra, Kunal Panjwani, Mohit Bhomia
Shoot Supervisors: Rafael Ghencev, Toya Drechsler, Morten Vinther
DFX Supervisor: Rajesh Kaushik
2D Lead Artists: Andre Vidal, Tara Holland, Vi Nguyen, Matt McDonald
3D Lead Artists: Rafael Ghencev, Arup Barik
Compositors: Jose Arauz, Felipe Passarini, Lucia Hill Barroso, Katelyn Veneman, T’Naige Wallace, Varshini Kumar, Nanda Kumar Perumal Pillai, Adwait Atul Page, Akhil A S, Gangadharam Raja, Nitin Rupsing Patil, Pradeep Kumar Rawat, Ragesh Ramachandran, Ramesh Petwal, Camillo Gutierrez, Aditi Khosla, Chris Russo
2D Generalists: Jaswan Vishnu Prasath Balla Mohan Rao, Kumar Ranvir Sinha, Pran Ayare, Praveen Balasubramanian, Shubham Pawar, Athul Prakash A, Bairi Rakesh, Ganji Ravi Kumar, Kandala Maniteja, Kannan R, Anisha Kachi, Manish Kumar, Praneet Vivek Borkar, Ramandeep Singh, Ramesh Basanna Vhataghonde, Tarun Kemtur, Yasasvini Vagampalli, Yellamilli Sai Hari Sandeep, Kamatham Pavan, Karthikkeyan M D, Nishith Thallasseri, Pankaj Harish Ukey, Sriram Parameshwaran

CG Modeling & Texture: Shaktivrat Khanvilkar, Sarjana Datta, Shahid Hussain, Kapil Rana, Amalraj P, Jigna Chandulal Saparia, Nishika Bansal, Pratik Bhade, Praveen Sharma, Ravi Kulwantsingh Ubhi, Sunny Ankit Minj, Yashwant Singh, Badin Wongsawat, Quinn Thompson
Rigging: George Saavedra
CG Animation: Goran Ognjanovic, Jessica Castillo, Lohit Chintala, Dhruba Sinha, S Anashwara, Nisham Khan
CG Lighting & Rendering: Alex Smith, Sergei Volkov, Lauren Shields, Luca Maccarelli, Marc Angele, Alores Li, Venna Leelanadhareddy, Rajesh Patra, Pintoo Kumar, Ravi Kant Nirala, Setty Ashok Chakravarthy, Stacie Fina Dsouza, Surya Chetan, Trinath Sarkar
DMP: Gowri Sankar Velusamy D, Jyothika S

FX: Madivadanatamilparidy Ramamoorthy, Gleaces Juvilian, Manik Suvedi, Joon Ho Bang, Matt Roach
Roto: Kunal Bendke, Prasanta Maiti, Sivakumar R Mahendranatha Reddy, Md Munaam Gazzali, Narendra Kumar M, Abhay Singh Chauhan, Aditya Prasad Panda, Rohit Kuppekar, Dalra Manikanta Sai, Harshad Rane, Hrushikesh KaduImrojul Khan, Kamlesh Chauhan, Laxman Nathuram Bodere, Sagar Eknath Gangurde, Santosh Kondiba Lokhande, Amit Chavan, Sarita Chauhan, Amit Kumar Shukla, Bhushan Sanjay Tawade, Dipika Salunke, Hrushikesh Tarade, Jaydeep Rajendra Jadhav, Karthik A, Michael Madhukar Alhat, Poly Das, Radha Kumari, Romishbhai Sindhi, Sachin Kumar, Satish Yadav, Shubham Rajkumar Dhaygude, Saurabh Patankar, Sekh Sahangir, Shamim Zamir Khan, Suhas Sitaram Jadhav, Shrikant Jadhav, Shubham Rampratap Savita, Sushil Palai, Tanmay Bera, Tejas Budhawale, Vikas Ramhari Sondge, Tribhuwan Kumar, Umesh Shivade, Vilas Kailas Khiradkar, Vishal Devkar, Vishvajeet Kocharekar
Paint: Sachin Ranaware, Putta Mahesh, Devappa Hadpad, Guthikonda Venkateswara Rao, Bandi Raju, Khandu Baliram Bidkar, Mohammad Ghayasuddin, Prashant Mohite, Ajay S Kumbhar, Amit Karnik, Anil Kumar, Bruno Roosewelt, Chetan Shelar, Dixit Kumar, Gowthaman N, Nilesh Patil, Prem Rajay Vankudre, Ritesh Patil, Sarika Jadhav, Utkarsh Indis, Sandeep Saini, Shubham Kumar
Matchmove: Manoj Ravi, Elangovan Ganeshan, Sriram Namana, Nallur Suhas Bhat, Asif Mohammad, Avaneetharan Karuppasamy, Chetan Balasaheb Kadam, Dongili Varaprasad, Giri Prasath, Kishor Shivaji Apune, Mubin Munaf Qureshi, Pabitra Kumar Sahoo, Paras Pareshkumar Shah, Praveenkumar Palani, Puppala Vinod Kumar, Rais Pinjari, Suman Sahu, Typhan Rai, Upasana Choudhary, Pritam Narayan Behera
Finish Artist: Heather Keister
Designers: Kris Sharabinskaia, Chris Rodriguez
Concept Artist: Roger Hom

Colour
Colour: The Mill
Colourist: Philip Hambi
Executive Producer, Colour: Edwin Elkington
Colour Assist: Caitlin Donaldson
Resource Manager, Colour: Jemma Beaumont

Editorial
Editorial: Whitehouse Post
Editor: Adam Marshall
Edit Assist: Paul Rummerfield
Head of Production: Melanie Klein
Executive Producer: Brooke Williams

Audio
Audio Post Production: Source Sound Inc.
Supervising Sound Designer & Mix: Charles Deenen
Senior Producer: Daniel Lepervanche
Sound Designers: James Evans, Dominik Ragancik
Sound Editors: Landen Belardes, Matt Severin

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