Working with McCann London we tackled the complete production of this stunning visual aimed at promoting MasterCard’s partnership with the Rugby World Cup.

To bring this campaign to life, it was crucial we captured the real life drama and action of a rugby tackle between two Harrods mannequins! Our production solution was led by photography and combined CGI creation for the mannequins. We shot on location outside Harrods to capture the window display, then in the studio with humans performing the tackle, dressed in the two designer outfits. Capturing the motion for real, allowed our CGI artists to match the positions of real poses when creating our digital mannequins. Carrying out a 3D pre-vis prior to the talent shoot also ensured we camera matched lens distortion and lighting both in 3D scene and the studio one. Always seeking to produce the best creative campaigns, we tailor our production approach to maximize the techniques that also balance budget and schedule challenges.

In the layout we see one mannequin in a fully stretched out leap ready to tackle the other, who is in full sprint just out of grasp with a rugby ball shaped clutch bag safely tucked under it’s arm. And all this drama takes place in the window display of Harrods! The client was quite happy with this initial scamp both in terms of overall composition and rugby pose, which in this case was very helpful as the schedule was tight and we needed to move straight into production!

Our 3D model came together quite quickly as we had already held detailed discussions with the client and shared many references for how it should look. Sculpted in Z Brush it’s a relatively simple, clean design with just some very subtle facial features.

The first phase of our shoot production was to capture a backplate of a Harrods window display. We did this at night time for added drama, but this also helped minimise reflection clean up which was helpful! The contents of the store window were then removed in post to create an empty shell into which we would integrate our CGI mannequins.

Prior to the studio shoot we used our location backplate to mock up a full 3D scene so we could pre-vis the shot and establish some key shoot parameters before walking into the studio. Using roughly posed mannequins we were able to lock down our camera position and lensing, composition, lighting and shadows. Having this scene set up signed off prior to the shoot means we spend less time on the actual day making these decisions and this maximizes our available shooting time to achieve the best possible pose and wardrobe variations.

Once in the studio we photographed our real model in the two different poses wearing the actual outfits. We captured each position separately so to allow ourselves more flexibility to mix and match images in the final composition. We cast a professional sports model who had the right athletic and technical ability to pull off a realistic looking rugby tackle. It was quite the workout in the end!

Here you can see all the steps of the post production process, from background clean up to mannequin and clothing compositing! The perfect integrated production showing how photography and CGI can work so well together!