Digital Domain Helps Saab Find Its Roots

When Lowe Worldwide, New York, was set to introduce two new models from Swedish car maker Saab, drawing on the company’s aviation roots made sense. Founded by aeronautic engineers, Saab’s reputation was built on distinctive styling, excellent performance and good looks.

Venice Calif.-based digital production studio, Digital Domain, was called on to create the visuals for the two directors hired to craft the parallels between aviation and Saab automobiles. Two new :30s, titled “Transformer” and “Delta” (directed by Joseph Kahn and Rob Cohen respectively) masterfully make that connection through the use of extremely dynamic and engaging visual effects.

Both of these spots capture the magic of flying. One hundred years after the birth of modern aviation, people are still fascinated by flight. From the beginning and still very much so today, aeronautic engineering has retained a sense of the impossible. These new spots for Saab use our collective human fascination to their benefit.

View the spots www.digitaldomain.com/ links/comm/recentwork/RW10/RW10.mov

In “Transformer,” a Gripen fighter jet slowly rolls inside an airplane hanger. The pilot turns a knob in the center console triggering a mechanical transformation: panels slide away revealing the machinery beneath, the nose and tail retract and fold inwards, other panels give way revealing some tell-tale automobile parts until finally, the new Saab 9-7X sport utility vehicle takes shape. Everything about the transformation appears physically possible, as if it were the latest vehicle built for James Bond.

The SUV then tears out of the hanger heading for the runway at high speeds. Just as you start to think the car might take flight, the commercial cuts to black where the tagline “Born From Jets” appears.

Overdubbed, a narrator’s voice is heard saying, “Saab was founded by sixteen aircraft engineers. Their spirit lives on. Introducing the all-new Saab 97X. When you used to build jets, you don’t build just another SUV. Saab ‘ Born From Jets.”

“Joseph [Kahn] grew up with Transformer toys,” explained Eric Barba, Digital Domain Visual Effects Supervisor, “and he helped us see what is so amazing about them. One motion works against another motion to reveal a new object. Every frame works to take away a little bit of plane and reveal a little bit of SUV.”

But the challenge lay in scaling the two objects to make their transformation seem real. “Obviously a Gripen fighter jet is far larger than an SUV,” added Barba. “So this spot was about slight of hand as much as it was about visual effects.

In “Delta,” a similar overdub accompanies a scene where five fighter jets barrel roll through the sky. The planes drop to impossibly low elevations and fall into formation behind the new Saab Aero convertible. With some clever use of aerial shots, the Saab looks right at home leading a pack of fighters across the Utah salt flats. The car’s engine roars as it kicks up a huge dust plume. Runway traffic operators guide the Saab off the flats and onto a suburban road where the car pulls into a driveway and stops. Reflections of the fighter jets shimmy across the vehicle’s hood before cutting to the Saab logo and tagline, “Born From Jets.”

Both spots rely heavily on digital production to associate the Saab models with the jets. “While the shots of the hanger itself were filmed, the plane, the car and of course the transformation sequence are 100% digital,” explained Digital Domain’s Senior VP, General Manager, Ed Ulbrich, “Numerous rules concerning scale and physics needed to be broken in order to fold a fighter jet into an SUV but in the spot, it looks like it could actually happen. We invent new rules based on the true laws of physics in order to fool the eye.”

And “Delta,” which places a formation of fighter jets just a few meters above the ground, also mocks the impossible. “There was some discussion about shooting the planes for this spot,” added Barba, “but the cost, not to mention the danger, of filming these jets flying at low altitudes and slow speeds was prohibitive.

Director, Rob Cohen, was fresh off filming ‘Stealth’ and no stranger to planes. “Rob knew exactly the look he was going for,” said Barba, “and we had no problem creating the jets from scratch. In the end, he got exactly what he wanted.”

Directed by Rob Cohen

Agency: Lowe Worldwide
Mark Wnek – Chairman & Chief Creative Officer
Simon Bowden – EVP Art Director
Dominic Ferro – EVP Head of Production
Sara Eolin – VP Senior Producer

Production Company: Original Films
Bruce Mellon – Executive Producer
Jeff Devlin – Executive Producer
Robbyn Foxx – Head of Production
Mark Conley – Producer

Animation and Visual Effects by: Digital Domain, Inc.
Ed Ulbrich – Senior Vice President of Production
Karen Anderson – Executive Producer
Eric Barba – Visual Effects Supervisor
Melanie La Rue – Visual Effects Producer
Chris House – Digital Production Manager
Vernon Wilbert – CG Supervisor
Kevin Ellis – Flame Tech Assist
Patrick Ferguson – Flame Compositor
Todd Sarsfield – Nuke Compositor
Jason Selfe – Nuke Compositor
Jonathan Wank – Flame Compositor
John Allardice – Previs Artist
Mannix Bennett – Texture Painter
Patrick Perez – Digital Artist
Michael Ash – Digital Artist
Sven Dreesbach – Digital Artist
Ron Herbst – Digital Artist
Cody Harrington – FX Artist
Jason Iverson – FX Artist
Shelley Courte – Tracker
Scott Edelstein – Tracker
Marco Maldonado – Tracker
Hilery Johnson Copeland – Roto Artist
Edgar Diaz – Roto Artist
Jeff Kim – Roto Artist

Editing by: Terminal Media
Jonathan DelGatto – Editor
Michael Gresch – Executive Producer
Jodie MacKinnon – Producer

Telecine: Company 3
Colorist – Mike Pethel

Sound Design: Soundelux Design Music Group

Directed by Joseph Kahn

Agency: Lowe Worldwide
Mark Wnek – Chairman & Chief Creative Officer
Simon Bowden – EVP Art Director
Dominic Ferro – EVP Head of Production
Sasha Stollman – VP Senior Producer

Production Company: HSI Productions
Annique DeCaestecker – Executive Producer
Michael McQuhae – Head of Production
Danyi Deats – Producer

Animation and Visual Effects by: Digital Domain, Inc.
Ed Ulbrich – Senior Vice President of Production
Karen Anderson – Executive Producer
Eric Barba – Visual Effects Supervisor
Melanie La Rue – Visual Effects Producer
Chris House – Digital Production Manager
Karl Denham – CG Supervisor
Janelle Croshaw – Nuke Compositor
Kevin Ellis – Flame Tech Assist
Patrick Ferguson – Flame Compositor
Todd Sarsfield – Nuke Compositor
Chris DeSantis – Previs Artist
Mannix Bennett – Texture Painter
Jeff Dierstein – Digital Artist
Sven Dreesbach – Digital Artist
Jim Gaczkowski – Digital Artist
Ron Herbst – Digital Artist
Errol Lanier – Digital Artist
Chris Norpchen – Digital Artist
Jason Iversen – FX Artist
Shelley Courte – Tracker
Scott Edelstein – Tracker
Marco Maldonado – Tracker
Hilery Johnson Copeland – Roto Artist
Stephen Edwards – Roto Artist
Jeff Kim – Roto Artist

Editing by: Cosmo Street
Katz – Editor
Jerry Sukys – Executive Producer

Telecine: Syndicate Colorist – Beau Leon

Sound Design by: Sovereign