Air New Zealand Safety Video 2020
In collaboration with Air New Zealand and PitchBlack Partners, Toybox was delighted to have the opportunity to work on the latest In Flight Safety Video, 'Journey To Safety'. The video tells the story of a young girl who transports Mr T, a lost takahe to his new home with help from Air New Zealand and the NZ Department of Conservation, all while conveying the important message that our native birds need our help and are in the grip of a biodiversity crisis.
Toybox was involved from early pre-production in order to design and integrate the fully CG character of Mr T into almost every shot. CG/VFX supervision during the shoot made it possible to seamlessly composite the 3D bird into a wide variety of lighting setups and environments. The CG takahē was sculpted in ZBrush and animated in Maya and had a total of 3,500 feathers that were individually groomed and placed on its body. Animation took a total of 450 hours by a team of 8 artists and animators working around the clock to complete in time for the launch.
Toybox was involved from early pre-production in order to design and integrate the fully CG character of Mr T into almost every shot. CG/VFX supervision during the shoot made it possible to seamlessly composite the 3D bird into a wide variety of lighting setups and environments. The CG takahē was sculpted in ZBrush and animated in Maya and had a total of 3,500 feathers that were individually groomed and placed on its body. Animation took a total of 450 hours by a team of 8 artists and animators working around the clock to complete in time for the launch.
The appearance of the takakē was thoroughly researched. The Toybox animation team visited Auckland Zoo to gather first hand reference of actual takahē feathers to exactly replicate the appearance and movements of the bird.