Imaginary Forces

Pontiac and Leo Burnett Detroit turn to Imaginary Forces for a Final Four Fast Break

Agency and studio produce new visual effects spot for GXP Performance Series in under two weeks.

New York, NY (April 10, 2007) Leo Burnett Detroit tapped Imaginary Forces for a Final Four fast break recently when the agency called on the design and production studio to bid and produce a visual effects car commercial in less than two weeks.

The spot, titled "Race," broke on the Friday night round of semifinal tournament games. It promoted the carmaker's GXP Performance Series line and featured the brand’s Solstice roadster, Torrent crossover S.U.V. and G6 coupe.

The spot was co-directed by IF creative directors Charles Khoury and Wilson Wu. It opens with a stylized aerial shot of a dark and somewhat forbidding sky. Across the cloudscape we see three vehicles racing along a highway suspended in midair.

Suddenly they're given chase, but not by another car, nor by a plane, but by streaking beams of light, represented by CGI ribbons that dart and curve across the screen. As we move closer to the action, we see three Pontiac GXP models-tricked out with performance features and accessories-racing at top speed, with cloud formations in the background.

The beams of light pull up alongside the vehicles, then weave between them before eventually pulling ahead, but not by much. And it's no surprise-during the race the voiceover points out that the GXP Solstice is faster than a Porsche Boxer, and the Torrent is faster than a BMW X5.

The project was done under such rush conditions because the client wanted to add a new spot to its roster of television ads for the Final Four broadcast on CBS. Having worked with Imaginary Forces in the past, the agency asked the production company what it could come up with under a crushing deadline. The IF creative team came up with a visual treatment in a day, and the job was awarded the following day. From the first conference call to delivery of the finished spot, the entire process was completed in 13 days.

"The agency team had a basic idea that they wanted to visually convey the concept of speed," says Khoury. "We prepared a storyboard for them that was simply graphic lines superimposed over shots of the cars in an unusual, abstract environ-ment. From that, the creative team came up with the idea of the cars racing beams of light."

All of the shots of the cars, with the exception of two quick shots of the Solstice, were created in a CG environment by animators at IF. The production team used that to their advantage by creating a stylized world where the action took place. "Our goal was to make it not look like a photo-real environment, but rather to re-semble this hyper-real place," says Wu. "The look is not cartoony, but visually different." The spot was built using Adobe Photoshop and After Effects and Maxon's Cinema 4D software.

Pontiac "Race" Credits:
Client: General Motors
Agency: Leo Burnett Detroit
Agency Producer: Kristin Redman
Agency Creative Directors: Tor Myhren, Jeff Cruz
Agency Art Directors: Brad Mancuso
Design and Production: Imaginary Forces
Creative Directors: Charles Khoury, Wilson Wu
Producer: Ben Apley
IF Designer: Wilson Wu, Charles Khoury
IF 2D Animator: Wilson Wu
IF 3D Animator: Charles Khoury, Miguel Lee, Chris Villa, Ben Lopez, David Lewandowski
IF Editor: Keith Roberts
IF Inferno Artist: Matt Spencer, Nick Rubenstien
IF Coordinator: Joe Denk