This was a great opportunity for us to flex our CG and compositing muscles. The team had some really strong ideas about where to go with DDB's original sketches as well as feeding in to and changing the story. "We wanted to try different options and see what would happen. We knew our key players were a Kangaroo and a Wolf, so we explored how their stories could be told. Especially with the Wolf as we wanted to see what story made the most sense and what kind of journey the wolf should go on. Working with storyboard sketches we began to find images that created the most drama to the campaign," says King.

In tandem with story and storyboard sketches, the design team came up with stoic and evocative images for each spot. In the initial style development phase, the idea was to make ensure they incorporated the brand while also pushing the brand image forward. Our design team and directors made beautiful style frames that got everyone really excited and were invaluable tools throughout the entire process.

The biggest challenge on the job was to bring everything to life as the entire spot would be fully CG. "We couldn't just go to the Arctic and shoot back plates to composite onto," explains Rob Petrie, the co-director.

The focus for R&D was the generation and grooming of the wolf's hair. After extensive research, the team discovered that there are roughly 14-16 different types of hair on a wolf. "XSI was used for the grooming and then an ICE compound called Melena allowed the hair to naturally blow in the wind. It also enabled us to render a huge amount of hair," Petrie says.

Everyone is delighted with the final result and the process was one of considerable collaboration and communication among The Mill, DDB Chicago and Emerson.