The sequence starts with a transmission bearing rolling into a synchro hub. This sets off a cascade of movement; windscreen wipers ’walk’ across the floor, valves roll down a bonnet and carefully weighted tires roll uphill. The advert ends when the power door locks on a complete Accord are triggered, causing the hatchback to close, tipping the car off a balanced trailer and into a final pose in front of the camera. The voice of US author Garrison Keillor queries “Isn’t it nice… when things just… work?”, while the song “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang plays in the background.

CLIENT: Honda

PRODUCT: Honda Accord

AGENCY: Wieden+Kennedy

DIRECTOR: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet

PRODUCER: Fi Kilroe

RELEASED: 2003 (Television)

DURATION: 120 seconds

This is NAPCAN’s latest and most successful Television and Cinema Commercial. Produced with the generous and creative support of our Business Children’s Champion, DDB this campaign challenges every adult to exhibit only positive behaviour to children. 

COPYRIGHT: All content, images and multimedia work on this site are copyright the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) . Content or images or multimedia are not to be copied, reproduced or distributed in any way without the express permission of NAPCAN.  An exception is granted for all PDF’s of NAPCAN’s Prevention Resources which may be downloaded directly from the website and printed or distributed on the condition that no alterations are made to the source files or output and the attribution remains clearly visible.

DIRECTORS : Joseph Kosinski, Anonymous Content, With David Fincher, Creative Consultant

AGENCY : McCann Worldgroup

CLIENT : Epic Games, Microsoft Games Studio/Xbox

The Goal: Create a commercial that reflects the actual look of a next-generation HD video game.

When Epic Games approached Digital Domain to create the teaser for its big Microsoft Xbox 360 title Gears of War, developed for the new Unreal Engine 3, it was like a light bulb had switched on. The company was already familiar with the game engine through director David Fincher, and saw it as sufficiently advanced in visual quality, tools, and real-time rendering to create film and broadcast content as well as video games.

They jumped at the chance to put their belief to the test. Working with McCann Worldgroup, Anonymous Content director Joseph Kosinski, and Fincher, who joined as a creative consultant, Digital Domain created the Gears of War spot entirely within the game engine itself.

The Approach: Develop the spot inside the game engine itself.

Creatively, the goal was to place the game’s tough-guy protagonist, Marcus Fenix, in an emotional scene that would make viewers feel as well as see the destruction of his post-apocalyptic world. To execute the concept, the team storyboarded and previsualized the spot, then conducted motion-capture sessions to detail movements for Fenix. Using the camera within the game engine, they were able to move through the levels that had been completed to pick the objects they wanted to re-create in the spot. They also animated the CG Fenix – all inside the game engine. The result is a cinematic-feeling teaser that mirrors the actual game in terms of realism, detail, texture, and physics.

The Result: More efficient creative process, converged worlds of film, games, and advertising.

Using the real-time game engine gave Digital Domain the benefits they had anticipated. It freed them from the time and cost constraints of traditional 3D software and rendering engines, which gave artists more time to explore creative options and brought the client’s spot to market faster. And the look of the final product – broadcast in high definition and shown on theater screens – erased any doubt about the quality of output from real-time game engines.

With the Gears of War spot, Digital Domain helped Epic Games to sell more than three million units in its first ten weeks on the market. It also helped to bring the converging worlds of entertainment, commercials, and games one step closer together.