Nissan Leaf : Freedom to Move
Updated: Sep 3
PRODUCTION
Studio | The Mill (London) |
Role | 3D Rigging |
Year | 2019 |
Software | Maya |
Agency | TBWA\Chiat\Day New York |
THE PROJECT
"Freedom to Move," a commercial for the Nissan Leaf, the brand's electric vehicle. The film draws
a parallel between two kinds of motion: a wingsuit flyer, champion Roberta Mancino, soaring
through San Francisco and its skyscrapers, and the Leaf gliding through the streets with the same
fluidity. A visual expression of freedom of movement, in the air and on the ground, serving Nissan's
positioning around electric mobility.
MY ROLE
I handled the rigging of the main character's digital wingsuit. The shots of flight between
skyscrapers, impossible to film for real at such proximity, relied on a CG version of the suit, the one
my rig was built to animate. The challenge lay in the nature of the garment: soft and stretched
between the limbs, it had to deform convincingly throughout the flight. I combined a classic biped
rig with custom controllers dedicated to deforming the suit, making it easy to fold and shape. The
goal: to give animators maximum flexibility to animate the body and the suit as one, without
constraints. All built in Maya. This digital character rig extends my character work for advertising, in the same vein as the vehicle rigging I did on Audi's "Synchronised Swim."
