“We not only had to make sure the cars looked photo-real, we had to make sure that they moved and drove like a Mini,” explains SWAY Studio VFX Supervisor Aaron Powell. To do this, SWAY researched the various Minis they were to create, in terms of weight, horsepower, gear ratio, center of balance, and more. “Once we had the CG version of the vehicle in our system,” Powell says, “we entered the specs into our Drive-A-Tron^TM and we had virtual versions of the Minis with which to begin our stunt work.”

Among those stunts was a Mini shooting out of a giant letter, flying through the air, and, upon hitting the ground, executing a full 360-degree spin, before powering through the spin and driving right past camera. As Powell points out, among the considerable benefits of the Drive-A-Tron™ is its ability to deliver take after take in a very brief period of time, “and we don’t have to worrying about wrecking any of these beautiful cars.”

Spot Titles: “Hold on to Your Assets,” “Adrenaline is a Renewable Resource,” “Cornering the Market on Small”

Air Date: July 10, 2009

Agency: Butler Shine Stern & Partners
ECD: John Butler/Mike Shine
ACD: Steve Mapp
ACD: Lyle Yetman
AD: Steve Mapp
CW: Lyle Yetman
CW: Trey Tyler
Dir. Broadcast Prod: Adrienne Cummins

Production Company: SWAY Studio
Visual Effects Director: Mark Glaser
Executive Producer: Meredith Machial
Producer: Justin Herber
Visual Effects Supervisor: Aaron Powell
Compositing Supervisor / Lead Compositor: Kenneth Littleton
Flame Artist: Ben Looram
CG Artists: Cesar Chavez, Robert Glazer, Rob Meyers
Nuke Compositors: Hudson Shock
Effects Artist: Steven Wang

Music: Peligro Music
Composer: Greg Kuehn

Sound Design: Dave Wagg

Audio Post: Lime Studios