Maybe you’ve seen the spots: a young boy builds a robot for a science project.
The boy introduces the robot to his parents and as the robot waves, the parents
look at each other, beaming with pride over their son’s creation. In the next
moment, chaos ensues as the robot turns nasty, shooting laser beams from his
eyes causing fiery explosions throughout the garage and finally blowing up the
family car.The explosions and laser beams created in this Nationwide Insurance :30 spot, which first aired during the super bowl, were created using Discreet Flame and Side Effects Software’s Houdini by visual effects specialists at A52.
Creative director from TM Advertising, Jay Russell confesses that he’s always concerned when it comes to getting a comedic payoff through CGI. The trick, he says, is to make sure that the CGI is invisible so that the viewer doesn’t think about the visual effect and simply watches the commercial letting it take them naturally to the conclusion. “Like all great effects work, you don’t notice the effects, you just laugh at the idea and buy it hook, line and sinker. The effects blend perfectly on all the spots.”
