The eternal ‘hunting’ between dog, cat and mouse was the inspiration for the new Honda Civic film. At the beginning of the commercial, a rat, a cat, a dog and his owner seem to have interrupted a frantic chase just to see the car passing by – they are absolutely hypnotized. Only after the Honda Civic round the corner they come back to themselves and the chase continues.
During the shooting, the dog and the cat were real animals, while the mouse was inserted later. Camera angles, shots and lighting – everything had been considered and reconsidered by the directors in order to have a perfect harmony between the real and 3D. But for those who thought that the hardest part was to get a digital mouse to execute realistic movements, since the breath until the slight oscillation of the mustache, thought wrong. For an animation house that is the meat and potatoes of every day. For those who imagines that the difficult was to move and produce a location in the heart of Sao Paulo, in the College Courtyard, important historical and cultural point of the city, you thought wrong too. Have a real cat, next to a dog, licking his whiskers, looking for an imaginary mouse and demonstrate emotions for the new Honda, yes, it was difficult, but not impossible.
Still keeping the idea of ‘unlikely’ and add realism to the narrative, was made an extensive research of movements and physical expressions of a mouse. And the creation of such accuracy and textures of the hair the step that most modelers took care of. It is interesting to explain that the 3D mice began to be made even before the film capture: using the story board, we had a preview of all the planes – so the directors could foresee any problems and “fit” the mouse on the frames . When the filming was completed, the mouse was applied into. The result is achieved: which animal is real and what is digital? The truth is imperceptible.
