Autotrader Disposer
February 2011 ––
While serving as Design Director at the Black Swamp, munkowitz was tasked with bringing an expansive and exhillirating neuron world to life, ushering the viewer through the mind of a car buyer navigating Autotrader's Trade-In Marketplace.
The Film
–– 01NeuronTrader
–– 02
Using a custom written OpenFrameworks application coded by the great Joshua Nimoy, the team was able to design a dynamic neurological world with infinite scalability. The application enabled an iterative process to generate an expansive network of Dendrites branches with Electron particle streams running through them, all with meticulously crafted controls for network scale and density, dendrite thickness and subdivisions, nucleus shape and frequency, and electron size, rate and scale. The application ultimately exported an .fbx file to Maya where the Swamp team then utilized their rendering pipeline to produce the final picture.
Final Picture / Process
–– 03Without distracting from the world they'd painstakingly created, giant type and animated screens of key Auto-trader information took cues from the light-based neurological language to communicate the core brand features. The Swamp collaborated with extremely talented Gerald Abraham of Industry VFX to create a photoreal CG car, passing animation data to their remote setup for a smooth animation process. In addition, they implemented a real suspension system to simulate the natural push and pull of the SUV through the powerslide and other driving feats.
The challenge of creating a spot chock full of information is making it engaging and visually stimulating. By paying attention to the details and tapping into their creativity, the team produced a final spot that pulls the viewer through the mental process of buying a car in a unique and exciting way while still educating the consumer.
The challenge of creating a spot chock full of information is making it engaging and visually stimulating. By paying attention to the details and tapping into their creativity, the team produced a final spot that pulls the viewer through the mental process of buying a car in a unique and exciting way while still educating the consumer.
Live-Action Production
–– 04Munkowitz also brought his talents to the set as he directed the live action scenes for the spot. In addition to the location shoots for the bookends to the commercial, the Swamp team shot about 30 extras on green screen to simulate the large crowd in the 'Serious Shoppers' shot.
Autotrader Credit List
Client: AutoTrader.com
Chief Marketing Officer: Clark Wood
VP, Consumer Marketing: John Kovac
Senior Manager, Consumer Marketing: Debbie Hoffman
Associate Manager, Consumer Marketing: Chris Evans
Agency: Doner Detroit
Co-CEO, Chief Creative Officer: Rob Strasberg
Creative Director: Mark Cooke
Creative Director: Bryan Hutson
Producer: Paul Renusch
Live Action Production: Rabbit Content
CEO/Executive Producer: Douglas Howell
Executive Producer: Joby Barnhart
Mid-West Representation: Wrywit/Sue Rosen
Visual Production: BlackSwan
MD/Executive Producer: Matt Winkel
Executive Producer: Scott Gemmell
Director: Bradley G Munkowitz
Creative Director: Nick Losq
Director of Photography: Don Davis
VFX Supervisor: Chris Clyne
Digital Car Specialist: Industry VFX/Gerald Abraham
3D Artists: Nick Losq, Chris Clyne, Sarah Bocket, Christina Lee, Kiel Figgins
Screen Design & Animation: Jake Sargeant, Chad Howitt
Editorial: Mike Hackett
Composite: Rob Nederhorst, Bradley G Munkowitz, Chad Howitt
Coordinator: Lloyd D'Souza
Storyboard Artist: Jacob Glaser
Client: AutoTrader.com
Chief Marketing Officer: Clark Wood
VP, Consumer Marketing: John Kovac
Senior Manager, Consumer Marketing: Debbie Hoffman
Associate Manager, Consumer Marketing: Chris Evans
Agency: Doner Detroit
Co-CEO, Chief Creative Officer: Rob Strasberg
Creative Director: Mark Cooke
Creative Director: Bryan Hutson
Producer: Paul Renusch
Live Action Production: Rabbit Content
CEO/Executive Producer: Douglas Howell
Executive Producer: Joby Barnhart
Mid-West Representation: Wrywit/Sue Rosen
Visual Production: BlackSwan
MD/Executive Producer: Matt Winkel
Executive Producer: Scott Gemmell
Director: Bradley G Munkowitz
Creative Director: Nick Losq
Director of Photography: Don Davis
VFX Supervisor: Chris Clyne
Digital Car Specialist: Industry VFX/Gerald Abraham
3D Artists: Nick Losq, Chris Clyne, Sarah Bocket, Christina Lee, Kiel Figgins
Screen Design & Animation: Jake Sargeant, Chad Howitt
Editorial: Mike Hackett
Composite: Rob Nederhorst, Bradley G Munkowitz, Chad Howitt
Coordinator: Lloyd D'Souza
Storyboard Artist: Jacob Glaser