UTÖKA blended photo-real CGI and motion graphic design with live-action footage for a multi-platform spot showcasing the cutting-edge technology behind MIZUNO Maxcor, MIZUNO's high-performance baseball bat.
The visual story takes a design-driven minimalistic approach that uses CGI imagery to focus in on the bat's forward-thinking engineering and features.
MIZUNO's engineers provided UTÖKA's team with a Maxcor bat, split in half, exposing its high-tech infrastructure. The team photographed the various elements from all angles ensuring the accuracy of the CGI.
CGI artist, Cesar Carvallo created photo-real shots that seamlessly matched the video and photography, using Adobe After FX, Maya and Cinema 4D.
Director Ken Soons shot the video in UTÖKA's studio on an ARRI Alexa mini camera with Cooke S4 Prime lenses. The entire set was painted black to create the look of a nighttime game. He worked with DP Jeff Dillon to create the dramatic feel of the dark background that draws the eye to the product.
"Knowing the exact lighting set up we would be using in the studio on set, allowed us to mimic that look in post for seamless matching of the real and CGI elements," explained Soons, who also edited and color graded the project. "Seeing the project through from start to finish really helped on the back-end workflow."