MPC and Faraday Future Put Viewers in the Driver's Seat at CES 2016

MPC Creative, MPC’s content production arm, produced a film and VR experience for CES 2016 highlighting the performance of Faraday Future’s technology platform with hints of first-of-a-kind innovations consumers can expect from their product line in the marketplace. MPC’s work was well received in a week which culminated in FF scoring spots on Top 10 lists for hottest tech product debuts. 

The CES film is about a concept car—the FFZERO1 high-performance electric dream car—and the inspiration around Faraday Future’s consumer-based cars. Dan Marsh, creative director of MPC Creative who also directed the FF projects, explained: “We wanted it to feel elemental. Faraday Future is a sophisticated brand that aims for a seamless connection between technology and transportation. There is an enlightened idea behind a clean, simple future, not only the technology but in the way people will use cars in the future. We tried to make the film personal, but natural in the landscape. The car is engineered for the racetrack, but beautiful in the environmental showcase. It lives in the very near future. There is energy and ambition. The performance is fierce but isn’t aggressive. 

“To make the film, we shot a stand-in vehicle to achieve realistic performance driving and camera work,” Marsh continued. “We filmed in Malibu and a performance racetrack over two days, then married those locations together with some matte painting and CG to create a unique place that feels like an aspirational Nürburgring of sorts. We match-moved/tracked the real car that was filmed and replaced it with our CG replica of the Faraday Future racecar to get realistic performance driving. Interior shots were filmed on stage. We chose to bridge those stage shots with a slightly stylized appearance so that we could tie it all back together with a full CG demo sequence at the end of the film.”

“The process was collaborative and remarkably straight forward,” added Mike Wigart, Executive Producer of MPC Creative LA. “Faraday provided us with a great starting point (the concept car); we created a set of beautiful conceptuals to support their vision, and they basically said ‘go.’ This is exactly where MPC Creative excels.”

MPC Creative also produced a Faraday Future VR experience that features the FFZERO1 driving through a series of abstract environments. The experience feels architectural and sculptural, and ultimately offers a spiritual vs. visceral journey. Using Samsung’s Gear VR, CES attendees sat in a position similar to the angled seating of the racecar for their 360 tour. 

“Faraday Future wanted to put viewers in the driver’s seat, but more than that they wanted to create a compelling experience that points to some of the new ideas they are focusing on,” Marsh explained. “We've seen and made a lot of car driving experiences, but without a compelling narrative the piece can be in danger of being VR for the sake of it. We made something for Faraday Future that you couldn't see otherwise. We conceived an architectural framework for the experience. Participants travel through a racetrack of sorts, but each stage takes one through a unique space. But we're also traveling fast, so like the film we're teasing the possibilities.” 

Full Credits

Client: Faraday Future

Client Producer:  Zack Williams 

Production Company: MPC Creative 

Director: Dan Marsh 

Director of Photography:  Sebastian Pfaffenbichler 

Art Directors:  Kina Choi & Casey McIntyre 

Live Action Producer: Stan Sawicki 

Production Designer: Jamie Vickers 

Storyboards: Darek Gogol 

Film Editor: Billy Sacdalan

MPC App Development: Tim Porteous 

Executive Producer, MPC VR: Mike Wigart 

Producer, MPC VR: Colin Clarry 

Film VFX Supervisors: Zach Tucker & Vincent Blin 

VR VFX Supervisor: Jason Schugardt 

MPC VR Production Team: Yuichiro Yamashita, Gustavo Bellon, Clement Renaudin, Asher Stusek, Matthew Burns, Steward Burris, George Saavedra & Nate Usiak

Film Production Team: Gustavo Bellon, Clement Renaudin, Asher Stusek, Matthew Burns, Andrew Price, Steward Burris, George Saavedra, Dylan Brown, Oliver Caiden, Jerry Chow, Matthew Maude, Ben Persons, Emily Gerich, Tim Donlevy, Jaemin Lee, Hayley O'Neill, Aaron Hamman, Jonathan Ficcadenti, Janice Tso, Heidi Berg, Darek Gogol, Kenneth Robin, Jerry Chow, Mark Krentz, Brian Broussard, Akshay Sunil Wadwalkar, Vittal Kuntla, Bibin Balan P, Anbarasu E, Karthick Muthukumar, M. Vijaya Kumar, P N Arunkumar, Rajinikanth R, S. Sundaramoorthy, Sabanayagam V, Venkatesh Rajagopal, Gowri Shankar Velusamy D, Partha Modal, Sachin Sureshrao Dhapudkar, Usama Jameel, Elangovan Ganeshan, Ganesh Kumar S., Hemanth Anusuri, Roy Nukala Srikrishna, S. Samson Samuel, Shaik Abdul Adil, Shalwin Shaiju, Sreejimol CP, Stalin Balan, Sudheesh TV, Vaishali Awaghade, Goutham Hampankatta & Amresh Kumar

Grade: MPC LA  

Colorist: Mark Gethin

Original Music: Daniel Iannantuono for Headquarters Music

Producer: James Bairian

Sound Design: Headquarters Music