The Moving Picture Company have recently completed a 30 second ad to promote PlayStation’s latest game ‘inFAMOUS’. The commercial was directed by Luis Nieto and the concept was created by David Zorn and JD Jurentkuff.

InFamous PS3 is a new action/adventure game that was released on the 29th of May 2009 for PS3 only. The story is about a man named Cole, just an average guy that delivers parcels in Empire City. His boss is always dishing out abuse, but then one day he’s asked to deliver a parcel, which unbeknown to him, contains a bomb that destroys Empire City. When Cole wakes up, he finds he has superpowers that allows him to take electricity from the city’s power grid and use it in destructive or healing ways.

Cole finds that he’s been framed for the blast that wiped out the city and has the choice of whether to be good or evil. Cole begins his hunt for revenge against the people who framed him for the explosion, slaying the cops and reapers that are trying to run him down and taking advantage of the civilians who are no match for Cole’s unstoppable powers.

The 30 second spot was created using two layers of 3d animation; the first for the detail inside the comic book panels, and a second layer for the pages themselves. MPC used game assets from the developer Suckerpunch, these were rigged and used during a motion capture shoot. MPC also added more detail to the models, applying textures, rebuilding city blocks, signs, the train and truck, and many other environmental details.

MPC animators were then organised into two groups; one working on the panels and the other one making sure that everything worked well together on the pages, matching the timings established in the pre-vis. Once the timings looked correct, each shot and the corresponding panel were rendered along with the comic book page.

The panels were composited in Shake and then exported to an After Effects artist where the composited sequence was applied to the page using a UV mapping plug in. The 2D compositors tracked burning embers and flames onto the side of the 3D pages. Added smoke, explosions, ink drops and other comic book textural details to bed in the 3D.

VFX Supervisor Nick Losq said; ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§I am lucky if I can work on one job like this a year. Having a project that allows you to be creative across so many disciplines can be quite challenging, but also has the potential to foster the greatest reward. With the combined effort of the Director Luis, the Creative David & JD at Deutsch LA and the VFX team at MPC, this project was successful in creating a fantastic spot that we’sre all very proud of.’s

Head of LA Production Andrew Bell said: ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§This is the first time MPC LA has taken on a project like this, to collect in game assets from a developer, adapt for TV, and create a 100% CGI world. Paranoid and Deutsch LA were the perfect partners and together I feel we have created something cinematic and because of the comic book imagery?‚àö√묨‚àÇhighly original.’s

About MPC
The Moving Picture Company (MPC) is a world leading post production facility creating high-end digital visual effects and computer animation for the feature film, advertising, music and television industries. A wholly owned subsidiary of Technicolor, MPC is based in Soho – London, Santa Monica – CA and Yale town – Vancouver. The facilities are centrally located, networked and have a dedicated digital infrastructure designed and built for our future.

MPC works on some of the most exciting commercials in the world today.Recent creative work has included spots such as Vernie Yeung ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Sony BraviaDrome’s Traktor ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Love at First Flight’s and Pleix fluid simulation driven Bacardi campaign. The MPC team were also instrumental in contemporary classics such as Juan Cabral Cadbury ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Gorilla’s Moment’s, Jonathan Glazer, Sony Bravia ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Paint’s and the Volkswagen Golf GTi, ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Singin’s in the Rain’s (N-eo).

International feature film work that MPC has worked on in the past months includes more than 250 shots for ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Watchmen’s completed by the Vancouver facility. In 2008, the London studio provided the climax sequence for James Bond ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Quantum of Solace’s adventure, CG Mammoths and Cityscapes for ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§10,000 BC’s and the major VFX contribution for ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Narnia, Prince Caspian.’s Examples of other projects completed by MPC in recent years include; Tim Burton ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Sweeney Todd; The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,’s Shekhar Kapur ‘sElizabeth: The Golden Age,’s Danny Boyle ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Sunshine,’s all of the Harry Potter films to date and Ridley Scott ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Kingdom of Heaven.’s

Credits
Director: Luis Nieto
Creatives: David Zorn and JD Jurentkuff
Agency: Deutsch LA
Agency Producer: Angela Zappella
Production Company: Paranoid
Production Company Producer: Guillaume Raffi
Editor: Charlie Roberts @ Marshall Street
Illustrator: Franck Louis-Marie
Motion Capture: House of Moves

Post Production Company: MPC
Post Production Producer: Chris Tuason & Andrew Bell
Production Coordinator: Jessica Benest
VFX Supervisor: Nick Losq
VFX Team: Chris Clyne, Kiel Figgins, Ryan Knowles, Adam Leary, Christina Lee, Chris Leone, George Longo, John Roden, Dan Sanders
Telecine: Mark Gethin

Related Links
www.moving-picture.com