Continental Gripology - Online Promo
Shift approached Jump with a wonderfully detailed brief, key visual and storyboard for a set of online adverts featuring Continental's new range of mountain bike tyres. The tyres are aimed at downhill and enduro riders looking for extra grip in a variety of riding situations.
Continental have gone big on the science and have created a set of exciting new compounds which will give a rider the competitive edge. The film had to combine the idea of molecular science with representations of different riding conditions - the thread linking the piece together is footage of Gee Atherton, a Continental sponsored rider, flying down a slate quarry in Wales.
With a reference to the stylised silhouettes of the Casino Royale title sequence - we had to convincingly remove Gee from the slate quarry in Wales and place him within a CGI world which represents mixed terrain, wet, muddy conditions, loose, loamy conditions and rock/hard pack.
We had the Gee Atherton footage rotoscoped, before creating a shaded, silhouette version of him, removing branding on the bike and his clothing. Then the shots were tracked using After Effects and Cinema 4D. Geometry was then created around the rider, modelling an abstract riding surface as well as adding jeopardy through tumbling, dynamic rocks, oversized reflective rain drops, flying rock shards and crunching canyons. Surrounding the rider is dust, rain and loose rock as well as logos representing the different tyre types. Wherever possible, we have used our CGI environment to create slinky links between the shots which gives the sequence a seamless flow to match Gee's riding style.
Continental were able to provide us with the CAD drawings of the tyres which we re-created and textured in Cinema4D - animating a transition from the molecular world to the surface of the tyres before revealing the range in a branded packshot.
As a mountain biker myself it has been a pleasure to work on a sport which gives me immense pleasure. An understanding of the technology and market for the tyres has hopefully helped us bring authenticity to this fantastic campaign.
I look forward to shredding the trails with a new set of Continental Gravity tyres as soon as I can get my hands on some!
Agency - Jump Design & Direction
Client - Shift Active Media
LEE JACOBS:
Animation DirectionStyleframes - Lee Jacobs
Proof of Concept - Lee Jacobs
Cinema 4D, After Effects Animation, Tracking & Composite - Diego Ghirado