Method Studios create alien havoc in Indonesia

Method Studios (Australia) has turned on the VFX magic for Yamaha in Indonesia.

The latest campaign from The Agency, Jakarta is in collaboration with top local production house Squarebox and takes the client in a very unique, different and robotic direction.

Director Damon Escott says: “It’s a rarity that a job this fun comes along. The aim was to build this commercial as a Hollywood style sci-fi thriller, and then twist it with the entrance of Komeng (Indonesia’s most famous comedian). From there we just let it spin out of control to outrageous effect.”

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“The project started with a very brave idea from David Warrior of The Agency, and it was a script that I loved from the first read,” continued Escott. “Producer Joe Seow and his fantastic team at Squarebox Cinetech put together a crack crew for the shoot. Then Method Sydney brought the visual effects to life with outstanding results. It was quite simply a massive effort on everyone’s behalf. And let’s not forget the client who had the courage to approve this ad.”

Method Studios’ Head of Business Asia, Stephen Douglas adds: “It has been great to work with Damon Escott. The creativeness he brings to the process is amazing and it’s always a pleasure”. Yamaha ‘Alien’ was an ambitious project where each shot we worked on presented its own unique challenges. This allowed us to draw on our diverse talent pool here at Method Studios, combining a number of different techniques in designing onset supervision and creation of the different Aliens within the film – it’s not every day that you get to create a great Alien sci-fi thriller.”

In a long running campaign Yamaha has built its brand credentials based on quality and performance. This latest campaign idea has been to create a character to represent the main competitor intent on ‘destroying’ Yamaha but which in the end is defeated by the superior Yamaha’s bikes.

The campaign has used the most popular local comedian, Komeng, to represent the nonchalant and sometimes naive consumer who is oblivious to the awesome power of the Yamaha bike he rides.

“This is the first in the latest series of the campaign introducing the ‘Aliens’ as the protagonist,” said The Agency Creative Director, David Warrior. “Whilst the ads are all hard-hitting they are given a velvet glove of humour to preserve Yamaha’s friendly personality in this Asian market. In five years of this campaign Yamaha’s market share grew from 11% to 43%.”

Credits:

Creative Director: David Warrior

Creative Storyboard: Yaya Riyadin

Creative Copywriter: Aulia

Production Company: Squarebox Cinetech, Jakarta

Director:  Damon Escott

Executive Producer: Joe Seow

Visual Effects: Method Studios, Sydney

VFX Supervisor:  Grant Everett

Digital 3D / VFX Supervisor: Ian Dodman

Lead Compositors: Blake Muir, Gabe Reichie

Lead Animator: Konstantin Kovalenko

Sound Design: Imaginex Studios, Jakarta

Sound Designer: Mike Bloemendal

DoP: Damon Escott / Brad Francis

Line producer: Purbo Priyono