The idea behind this spot was based around a break dancing robot’s dance off with a boy of equal ability, until the boy unleashes his secret weapon – ‘Sidi Ali Bottled Water’ – to which the robot bows to the boys superior ability.

nineteentwenty collaborated with director Michael Gracey at Partizan and 3D specialists Digital Golem, to concept and design the robot from scratch. We then built, rigged, textured and animated the robot in XSI, refining it’s design as shooting and post production continued.

The dance routine was choreographed beforehand, and carefully planned out on set. Justen Beer, the boy, and Bboy Cloud, the choreographer, went through the routine together first, with Justen eventually doing the final takes on his own in the correct space. Cloud then repeated the dance routine in a motion capture studio, carefully replicating the moves he did on set. The motion capture data was then brought into XSI and, after being cleaned up and refined, was combined with the CG robot for a smooth, seamless, dancing animation, with additional refinements and finishing touches added to give a more precise, robotic feel.

Digital displays and TVs were added to the environment to enhance the feeling of a futuristic store.

VFX: nineteentwenty

VFX Supervisor: Ludo Fealy

VFX Producers: Scott Griffin

Nuke VFX Team: Chrys Aldred

3D VFX Team: Digital Golem

Director: Michael Gracey

Production Company: Partizan

Production Producer: Isabella Hunt-Davies

Colourist: George K at MPC