You’ve probably spotted the Citroën C4 robot dancing across your TV screen in the past few months, but you may not be aware that it wouldn’t be dancing at all without the expertise of Cape Town-based Atomic Visual Effects.
Atomic Visual Effects, founded in 1999 by directors Simon Hansen, Sharlto Copley and Ali Maleka, was part of an international team that pooled their resources and expertise to bring the dancing Citroën transformer to life in the cheeky ads flighted across Europe and South Africa.
The commercial, which was created using computer-generated imagery, was made in collaboration with Embassy Visual Effects in Vancouver and was directed by South African-born director Neill Blomkamp.
“Atomic has long been a pioneer in photo-real animation in South Africa, and we are proud to now be working with some of the world’s leading creative talent,” said Hansen.
Copley added: “The commercial was created using computer-generated imagery and involves no live-action shooting. To ensure 100% accuracy in the modelling, the exterior of the real car was cyber scanned in Paris by Los Angeles-based Gentle Giant.”
Cyber scanning involves using a multi-camera system to create a three dimensional mesh of the shape of the object in a wire frame so that it can be manipulated on computer to add the surface skin and lighting. Maleka, Atomic’s co-owner and senior digital artist modelled the engine and other car parts.
The team used motion capture technology to create the dance moves, which were choreographed by Justin Timberlake’s choreographer, Marty Kudelka, and recorded at Blur Studios in Los Angeles.
Things are looking up for Atomic who recently had two short films, 2001: A Space Oddity and Hellweek, screened at the Cannes film festival in the Cinema du Monde section.
Space Oddity, which is about a spacecraft crash-landing in Cape Town and its reception by the local populace, has become the most popular South African short film in history, having been downloaded off the Internet more than 11-million times.
Negotiations for major funding of Atomic’s first full-length film, titled Spoon, are currently under way.