'Hector's
Life' is a delightful new 60-second spot for the
Renault Espace. Created by French agency Publicis
Conseil, with production companies Outsider (UK)
and Bandits (France), the spot was directed by Dom
and Nic. It first aired in France on Christmas Eve,
2004, and a UK airing is currently under consideration
by Renault. Beautifully crafted and highly original,
'Hector's Life' features animation and effects by
Framestore CFC.
At the start of the spot we find ourselves outside
a waiting room at a European railway station. At
the bottom of the waiting room doors we see a flat,
paper figure – Hector, in fact – peep
out and, after a second, slip through the space
between the doors, out into the station. We follow
Hector as he crosses the crowded station floor onto
the platform. As he climbs down onto the rail track,
a song strikes up – 'Going Up the Country',
Canned Heat's 1968 paean to the good life –
whose gentle, locomotive rhythm beautifully accents
our paper hero's journey.
Hector hitches a ride on a freight train heading
out of the city. As the train crosses a bridge in
the countryside, Hector jumps off and, rolling himself
into a protective ball, lands in the middle of ferny
woodland. Through woods, cornfields and across rivers,
he continues his trek, even briefly hitching a ride
across a ploughed field on the back of a dung beetle.
Finally, he climbs to the top of some lichen-covered
rocks and we see him smile for the first time as
he sits and surveys the spectacular valley below
him, the rising wind causing him to flutter gently.
We then cut back to the waiting room in which we
began, and the camera zooms in on a man reading
a newspaper. The last shot of the story shows us
the cartoon strip in the newspaper (entitled 'Hector's
Life', naturally) from which our hero has excused
himself, the frames empty save for the word balloons.
The tagline - 'Isn't space the ultimate luxury?'
- is superimposed, and we then see a shot of the
Renault Espace.
The shoot, which took place in Italy over a week
in late 2004, was supervised for Framestore CFC
by Ben Cronin and Jake Mengers. Cronin recalls,
"We shot the station material in Milan's Central
Station – a beautiful 19th century structure
– and its stockyards. During the exterior
sequences, some of which we shot in the hills outside
Rome, we were plagued by less than ideal weather
conditions, some of which we were able to address
in post. The bridge shots, for example, were brightened
up by a combination of a pushed grade and some Inferno
work. But the final whip-pan across the valley was
actually created using a 360 degree sequence of
stills we had sent to us from South Africa."
The challenge facing the animation team at Framestore
CFC was to create a character who, while essentially
2D, was interacting in a 3D world. This required
the construction of two separate rigs, a 2D one
and a 3D one for moments when an element of depth
was required. "We created a low-res version of Hector
first," says Nicklas Andersson, Lead Animator on
the project, "Which we used to try out walk cycles
and other test elements for the creative team. We
also shot some hand held camera footage outside
our office and put him in it. The biggest challenge
was that working in 2D denies you the sense of weight
that you can more easily create in 3D. Altogether
it took us about six weeks working in Maya to bring
Hector to life."
One small detail likely to be lost on people focussing
on Hector is that the beetle he rides on briefly
is also a CG creation. The incredibly life-like
creature was built, textured, rigged and animated
in 2 weeks in Maya by Dean Robinson, using a real
(and distinctly smelly) preserved beetle as a model.
Lighting is an essential element in making Hector
and his journey believable, and Senior Technical
Directors Simon Stoney and Jamie Isles worked hard
to create the effects that would place him plausibly
in situ. "We used the global illumination
references that Jake (Mengers) had gathered on location
for us," says Stoney, “And they'd also place
some cut-out paper figures in shots for us. The
whole 2D/3D aspect of it made lighting it a real
challenge – we were basically doing two sets
of renders for every shot."
With the prospect of cinema screenings for the spot,
the team decided to shoot it all on film, the high
resolution offering a more spectacular look on the
big screen. Senior Colourist Steffan Perry created
an original grade and transfer at HD, which was
then played out and shot onto 35mm film at Framestore
CFC's Video to Film facility. This was TK'd once
more by Perry, the extra stage offering a further
layer of grain to enhance the look of the spot.
'Hector's Life' is one of those commercials in which
all of the elements come together perfectly –
nifty direction, charming animation, and just the
right soundtrack – to give you 60 seconds of
pure pleasure.
Renault Espace: 'Hector's Life'
Agency Publicis Conseil
Creatives Bénédicte
Potel / Thierry Lebec
Agency Producer Muriel Allegrini
Production Company Outsider (UK)
/ Bandits (France)
Directors Dom & Nic
Producer John Madsen
For Framestore CFC
VFX Supervisor Ben Cronin
Inferno Artists Ben Cronin, Darran
Nicholson
3D Animators Nicklas Andersson,
Dale Newton, Dean Robinson
TDs Jamie Isles, Simon Stoney
Render Assistance Alex Doyle
Telecine Colourist Steffan Perry
Post Producer Rebecca Barbour
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