With this year’s Rugby World Cup in full swing, the idents are very topical as we see Maya, the 100% CG photo-real Orangutan, swinging from rugby posts and hanging-out in the changing rooms. She is depicted in awe of the energy used to create a global sporting event of this kind.

Building on their extensive CG assets from the campaign’s previous ads, The Mill’s VFX team worked to recreate Maya entirely in CG so as to further evolve her character as she embarks on yet another adventure.
 
Head of Animation Jorge Montiel explains how this majestic creature was created, “To continue our journey with Maya we carefully animated her distinctive facial expressions to ensure she looked like the recognisable Maya and not just any generic orangutan. The way she smiles, looks at the objects around her and the way she shows curiosity are some of the characteristics that give shape to her personality.”

2D Lead artist Gary Driver describes how the 2D team then worked to pull together the final shots, "The 2D team’s aim was to seamlessly composite Maya into the beautifully shot, live action plates. We matched colour, changes in lighting, depth of field and interactions with Maya's environment to fully integrate the CG.”