Virgin Australia VFX Breakdown by MPC

Virgin Australia VFX Breakdown by MPC

Directed by Gary Freedman, Virgin Australia has launched their fun new campaign ‘Up, Up and Toupee’. The 60-second spot, which is set to Jo Cocker and Jennifer Warnes’ iconic tune ‘Up Where We Belong’, follows Wiggy the toupee, an unconventional lead character that rediscovers how amazing flying is, and the joy of seeing the big, wide world on his way to the family’s holiday destination.

MPC’s role was integral in helping DDB Sydney achieve their vision for the spot by bringing the toupee to life and showing its journey across Australia. With VFX led by Jonathan Box, CG led by Fabian Frank and colour by Jean-Clément Soret, the spot is a journey of ease and effortlessness, and most importantly, fun.

To achieve the final look there was a lot of testing involved, such as playing with the balance of hair stiffness. The toupee was created entirely in Houdini using proprietary grooming and simulation tools, which meant that the grooming, simulation and rendering was in one software package, allowing for quicker iterations and more efficient workflows.

On collaborating with the Director, Fabian said: “For Gary the key to the story was to portrait a character that spreads its wings and finds its confidence throughout the journey finishing in a playful sequence above the clouds. To convey this progression of personality through animation we worked closely right from the beginning when we started the previs. Collaboratively we came up with some great creative solutions, always trying to support the key storytelling points”.

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