Brickyard VFX recently “winter-ized” the hero car reveal for the GMC Sierra holiday campaign via Leo Burnett, turning a desert landscape into a seasonally snow-covered expanse. 

 

 

The final shot of the truck was originally shot in the warm light of summer. The Brickyard team, led by VFX Artist Mandy Sorenson, created a digital matte painting of a snowy environment, utilizing a photoreal CG snow plate created by Brickyard’s Head of 3D, David Blumenfeld. Brickyard artists then tracked the encircling camera move and composited the CG snow plate onto the original plate using blending techniques to achieve a truly organic look. Additionally, the Brickyard team used a CG model of the Sierra to digitally replace the reflections on the truck to mirror the new snowscape environment. Sorenson completed the composite with a sky replacement and cold-toned color correction to complement the snow.

 

"This was a fun project and a great opportunity to flex our muscles in several areas – intricate environmental matte painting and compositing, and subtle yet detailed 3D car work that would appear as if the vehicle was shot in that environment," said Brickyard Executive Producer Jeff Blodgett. "We’re very proud of the realism we achieved."