The spot opens in a tennis stadium with star athlete Serena Williams paired in a match. To generate the large crowd surrounding the court, The Mill’s 3D artists created the vast majority of the fans in CG. 3D Lead Artist Jason O. Monroe comments, “Gawain [Liddiard, Shoot Supervisor] was a great asset on set. His input as to how best to shoot the frames was crucial in ensuring the seamlessness of the CG work.” To ensure key tennis court details were featured, the 3D team used references from the real Wimbledon stadium and integrated them into the spot. 

Creating Serena’s shattered tennis racket posed the greatest technical challenge to the 3D team. In order to generate a believable and cohesive sequence the artists enhanced the smash effect by creating a match move animation. To do this, the team first animated a character, placed it on top of the plates then tracked the shot frame-by-frame in a 3D environment.

Jason says, “The challenges within this spot provided a great opportunity for our creative team. Theodore was fantastic to work with as well. His creative visuals really heightened the success of the piece.”