In this behind the scenes feature, we’ll be discussing our latest viral video for BMW, The Call. The brief for this project called for a tricky slow motion shot, following a flying cellphone through the interior of a car. Let’s break down the steps we took to achieve this effect.
The phone’s journey takes place within a spacious BMW M5. The front seat passenger answers the phone, before the driver punches the accelerator and the car’s speed sends the phone drifting through the air toward the back seat.
First, we fully composited the phone in 3D, to give us total control over the phone’s movement.
During production, we used a mirror ball to take a HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) light probe, using 9 different exposures. This allowed us to capture the real lighting condition inside the M5 and later simulate it in our created 3D environment.
We then needed to create a realistic reflection over the phone’s glass surface. For this, we shot a separate panorama of the interior of the car. The camera settings in the 3D environment were then matched with the camera settings of the panorama plates.
For a look at the finished phone in motion, check out the official viral video on Youku.
Watch: BMW The Call
