BBDO NY 2023-12-06

SAP Office Cat

SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run better through technology. To turn business owners’ attention to the AI tools SAP offers, BBDO NY decided to capitalize on the recent buzz around generative art and created a film featuring an animated cat painted in the style of Van Gogh. The talking feline cheekily comments on the trend of which he himself is an example, before guiding the viewer through all the practical real world results that such a revolutionary technology can provide to various industries.LOBO was in charge of bringing this story to life, and we thought this was a good opportunity to make use of our own AI research and expertise as an aid in exploring the various possibilities of applying realistic oil painting textures to a 3D model.During the initial Concept phase, we used machine learning to train a model for generating prototypes of the painted Cat, based on Van Gogh’s distinctive brushwork. We tried numerous parameters to achieve the right amount of volume, color, reflexiveness etc. for each brushstroke, in order for the Cat to look like a real oil painting, with a tactile physical presence within the live action sets of the film.Once the desired aesthetic was achieved and approved by both the agency and the client, the final lookdev of the Cat was seamlessly carried into 3D software, where the character was animated using traditional CG techniques.LOBO's work wasn’t limited to the cat, though; we provided a full production service. While the digital side of the work was carried out in São Paulo, our film directors relocated to Vancouver, where the live-action portion of the spot was shot. After production was complete, the footage was sent back to Brazil, where it was composited with the animated character.

Directors

Credits

  • Agency BBDO NY
  • Director Ricardo Carelli, Mateus de Paula Santos
  • Managing Partner Luis Ribeiro
  • Executive Producer (Live) Paul Amorese
  • Executive Producer (Animation) Su Constantine
  • Head of Production Marcelo Barbosa
  • Producer Su Constantine, Pablo Zurita
  • Production Coordinator (LOBO) Otto Goldstone
  • Line Producer Katherine Pacula
  • 1st AD (Pre-Production) Akassia Goncalves
  • 1st AD Brett Taylor
  • Production Designer Bill Leblanc
  • Director of Photography Rob Hauer
  • Vancouver Production Team Fixer Productions
  • VFX Supervisor Leandro Pena
  • Storyboard artist Libero Malavoglia
  • Post-Production Coordinator Rosangela Gomes
  • Post-Production Producer Diego Nascimento, Lucas Marini
  • Editor Pedro Falcone
  • Editor Assistant Matheus Miglionico
  • Compositing Supervisor Leandro Pena
  • Compositing Artist Leo da Silva, Rodrigo Vec
  • Art Director (Post-production) Marcio Mattos
  • Rotoscope Gassan Abdouni
  • Matchmoving/Camera tracking Enrico Guarischi
  • Motion Graphics Artist Luiz Alberto Ferreira
  • Head of CGI Fabio Shigemura
  • CGI Supervisor Danilo Enoki
  • CGI Coordinator Ana Mendes
  • Lead Modeler Tiago Mesquita
  • Lookdev Ricardo Riamonde / Tiago Mesquita / Danilo Enoki
  • Lead Rigging Rafael Dias Joy
  • Rigging Rafael Kendy Shiva
  • Lead CGI Animator Larissa Paz
  • CGI Animators Mendel Reis / Jorge Zagatto Neto / Camila Silva / Leo Zitto / Camila Xavier Fazolin / André Lorenzini / Michael Maron
  • Lighting & Render Mauricio Pirillo
  • Lead R&D Filipe Lopes
  • R&D Carlos Sanches / Alexandre Jum
  • Research Raphael Amário / Karin Cristina
  • Ingest / Conform / Output Marco Tavares / Isabela Balbo / Fabio Augusto
  • Color Grading Color Collective
  • Music / SFX Sound Lounge