Fly Buys - Something A Little Bit Good - (2012) :60 (NZ)

Loyal Fly Buys users know that pretty amazing things can happen when they take advantage of the sprawling rewards program. In a new spot done in collaboration with Psyop LA, MPC suggests that Fly Buys may be even more remarkable than most of its loyal users realize.

“Something A Little Bit Good” is a mystical adventure of a spot, toggling between store check-out scenes and fantastic panoramas of animals in some far-off naturalistic nirvana. A cashier’s swipe at a supermarket or electronics store might correspond with a cloud of butterflies forming in a meadow, a frog relaxing in a forest stream with an army of guppies servicing his webbed feet, or a polar bear taking a plunge from a cliff into a swimming hole. The juxtaposition of the varying elements suggests that there may be more to the company’s slogan – “Every time you swipe, something a little bit good happens” – than we realize.

MPC worked directly with Psyop throughout the production process, integrating the 3D creatures with Psyop’s live-action footage. “We wanted to create something that looked like museum dioramas, but with photoreal animals,” stated MPC LA MD Andrew Bell.

MPC dove deep into their reservoir of creature experience to achieve this level of realism, using photoreal fur dynamics, and muscular and skeletal techniques all developed in-house through MPC Features. Still, even with a treasure trove of experience creating compellingly life-like creatures for the likes of Hyundai and Skittles Riddles, the realistic depiction of animals engaging in such unlikely acts proved to be an especially stimulating challenge.

“We walked a line between the impossible and the very real,” noted MPC LA MD Andrew Bell. “We designed these fun portraits of animal magic so that you’d want to believe in them, sticking to the constraints of physics and anatomy. We wanted viewers to be left with a sense that, though these actions couldn’t be true, maybe they were.”

Client: Fly Buys
Spot Title: “Something A Little Bit Good”
Air Date: September 2012

Agency: Clemenger BBDO (New Zealand)
ECD: Philip Andrew
Creative Director: Brigid Alkema
Creatives: Brigid Alkema, Mitch Alison, Alex Metson, Emily Beautrais
Head of Television: Martin Gray

Production Company: Flying Fish
Director: Todd Mueller, Kylie Matulick (Psyop)
DOP:  Ginny Loane
Producer: Penelope Sinclair

Editor:  Brett Nicoletti

VFX Co: MPC
Managing Director: Andrew Bell
VFX Producer:  Nicole Fina
VFX Supervisor: Ross Denner, Benoit Mannequin
Lead 3D Artist/CG Supervisor: Ross Denner
Senior Lighter: Fred Durand
Senior Animator: Ian Wilson, Jonah Austin
Generalist: Nikki Mull, William Schilthuis
Particles: John Cherniack
Matte Painting: Adam Leary
Fur/Groom: Dameon Boyle, David Mayhew
Rigger: Felix Balbas
Fur Dynamics: Cristian Hinz Welkens
Tech Animation: Edward L
Lead 2D Artist: Benoit Mannequin
2D Artist: Will Voss Johnson, Katerina Arroyo
Matchmove: Brindha Ravichandran, Sathya Narayan
Texturing: Inigo Vimal Roy, Raju Ganesh S.
Modeling: Kunal Sarkar, Prashant Nair

Telecine:  MPC
Colorist: Mark Gethin