Johnny Green has directed ‘Satellite’ for Audi A6, the Agency was BBH London. Production was handled by Knucklehead, with MPC carrying out post production for this gritty, fast-paced, edgy ad.

The 90: ad benchmarks the manufacturing quality and attention to detail of the Audi alongside that of the NASA space station through a series of striking monochromatic visual references. After telling us that the Audi A6 has registered more patents than NASA, we see abstract elements of the car in space and later, after re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, diving into deep water…

The commercial was graded by Mark Horrobin. As the commercial had been shot day for night he had to grade the rushes accordingly. The atmosphere was to be moody, dark and as ambiguous as possible to capture the viewer’s attention. The opening sequence, where the man walks home required the main grade, the majority of the ad involved grading a series of elements.

To achieve the final result, the MPC VFX team integrated cg models, miniatures, stock footage and in camera elements shot on various camera formats. The miniature model of the street was camera tracked in Flame and incorporated with matte paintings to extend the camera move into virtual space. Close ups of the car were created using CGI and elements shot in studio using a Phantom camera were composited together to give the impression of a satellite hurtling through space. Stock footage aerial views of the Earth from Space were also enhanced in Flame, for example, city lights and land masses in the thunderstorm shot were layered in. To re-create the ‘old school’ computer screen titles, the typography was animated in Flame, played to VHS and recorded back into Flame. The end parachute scenes comprise a digital matte painting of the sea and cg parachutes which were then treated and degraded in Flame to match the look of other stock footage.

The 3D team, lead by Richard Morris created the cg parachutes seen floating down towards the sea and the abstract car elements that float in space. The most challenging 3D element of the project was the fully cg car seen crashing through the surface of the ocean towards the camera. The car itself was modelled in Maya and rendered in Mental Ray. Richard attended a ‘water shoot’ at Pinewood Studios, where a quarter scale model of the car – built by model makers Asylum FX – was jettisoned into a tank of water. This allowed the team to shoot plate and bubble elements which would later be enhanced with dynamic 3D elements to add atmosphere. The look of the car was developed using textures taken from satellites re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. The astro-nautical feel follows through into the end plate which reads; Audi A6, Patent Number; VOR5SRU7NG DUR6CH T3CHN1K.

The spot airs in the UK from October 7th 2006.