Making of Follow The Rabbit 2

THE MILL – Reuniting with VCCP, directors dom&nic and Outsider, The Mill created this follow-up to O2’s ‘Follow The Rabbit’ campaign, with not just one fully CG photo-real wild rabbit, but thousands.

This latest film sees the return of the iconic blue rabbit, but multiplied in abundance.

Representing a curious spirit, the rabbit’s inquisitiveness lures O2 customers from the comfort (and boredom) of their homes, to the excitement and memorability of a live experience.

Creative Director Jorge Montiel comments, ‘In this second saga of Follow the Rabbit, we had to create hundreds of rabbits running and jumping through London.

We wanted to bring a hyperreal level of detail to their facial features, so their eyes, their breathing and their twitches lead us to believe they are actually alive, and their rains are thinking and interacting with the people.

We worked on each individual rabbit to make it feel unique and different.’

3D Lead Artist Alex Hammond explains ‘This was a huge job for the Mill and one that required an extensive team of artists. We rendered a total 1560 rabbits with the maximum number of rabbits involved in one shot coming in at around 820.

We had about 10 variations of rabbits each containing around 15 million hairs. Every single rabbit was hand animated and then simulated with complex skin solvers and fur dynamics to give an extra level of realism. All of this was possible due to the flexible pipeline tools we have been developing and it’s proven we can comfortably take on big creature jobs like this.’

3D Artist Sid Harrington-Odedra provides further details about the creation of the magical tunnel, explaining ‘The directors (dom&nic) were both very clear that the portal needed to be entirely believable and not exist in the world of science fiction, but rather be built as though it were an installation in a modern art gallery.

Working from references that ranged from exotic minerals to ice caves, we spent six weeks crafting the overall shape of the portal, as well as the way in which the light interacted with it. Finally, a layer of dry ice simulation was placed on top, which helped not only to bed the rabbits into the portal, but added a slight magical quality to the space.’

Colourist David ‘Luddy’ Ludlum comments ‘In essence we wanted to keep the aesthetic of the film as gritty and realistic as possible.

We set the grade before any of the CG, so these settings were already calibrated for the artists to work with. We then put the finishing touches through matte to situate the rabbit in the live environment.

Ultimately we achieved a dramatic, gritty grade which contributes to the overall distinctive look of the film.’

CREDITS

Agency

Agency: VCCP
Producer: Becky Grove
Creative Director: Jim Capp
Creatives: Pete Bastiman, Bish Aylesbury
Account Director: Caroline Shortt

Production Company

Production Company: Outsider
Director: Dom & Nic
Executive Producer: John Madsen

Editorial

Editorial: Final Cut
Editor: Ed Cheeseman
Edit Assist: Kit Wells

VFX Production

VFX: The Mill
Executive Producer: Alex Fitzgerald
Producer: Imogen Pai
Shoot Supervisor: Gianluca Di Marco, Sam Driscoll

VFX Creative

Creative Directors: Jorge Montiel, Jonathan ‘Wes’ Westley
2D Lead Artist: Gianluca Di Marco
3D Lead Artist: Alex Hammond
Tracking Supervisor: Senthil Murugan Balasundaram
2D Artists: Stefan Susemihl, Rebecca Clay, Peter Hodsman, Declan Andrews, Sole Martin, Jose Caballero, Jorg Schulz- Gerchow, Rich Payne
3D Artists: Alan Williamson, Sid Harrington-Odedra, Amaan Akram, Vicky McIntyre, Maria Carriedo, Alejandra Alabadi Arago, Murali Krishna Reddy, Sendil Kumar J, Karthik K, Karthik V, Gokul N, Giri Prasath S, Raj Kumar, Ayush Bajoria, Manoj Ravi, Fazal Khan, Ganesh LamkhadeAlberto Lara, Antoine Mariez, Kevin O’Sullivan, Joshua Barlow, Carlo Carfora, Sauce Vilas, Dan Yargici, Luis Cancio, Jacques Leyreloup, Patrick Keogh