Rewat 'Ter' Buddhinan (1948 - 1996) was a pioneer in the Thai music industry. He has been a household name in Thailand for over 40 years and as the founder of Thailand's GMM Grammy, is considered to have ushered in a new era in the music industry.

Taking inspiration from his determined and inspiring character, BBH China took on an incredible creative idea in Johnnie Walker's new spot 'Change The Game'; bring Rewat back to life, show his emotion and passion for everything he did and his drive to follow his dreams. 

A project like this needed the highest possible level of human CG work. BBH China came to The Mill for this mammoth job of bringing the legend of Rewat back to life. Our expert team of artists jumped at the opportunity to realise BBH China's creative brief. They had to not only create a seamless CG facial performance but also make sure it matched the man and character that people know, love and remember.

The team re-created a technique used on feature film projects for creating a photo-real face in a live-action actor shot. The actor on set had 50 dots painted on his face in key areas, giving the animators a great reference and allowing them to first match the performance, and then add in Rewat's personality. 

Rewat's skin tone and texture had to be perfect. Our artists worked relentlessly on all these human details; right down to how many wrinkles were in the corner of each eye when Rewat smiled and what way those wrinkles would move and crease. 

Johnny Tan, Creative Director, BBH China comments, "I'd like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for The Mill's brilliance, craftsmanship, collaboration, patience and stamina to make this into such an excellent spot."

Mill VFX producer Sarah Cloutier comments, "We studied hours of his music videos and all of the known images that exist, along with some high-resolution pictures provided by his management company and created 3D Models from this. We then created 120 separate expressions known as blend-shapes that were a close match to frames we extrapolated from his old interviews, music videos and concert footage, resulting in a performance that impressed Rewat's family with its likeness and personality. We were thrilled when Johnny and BBH China came to us with this incredible idea and the opportunity to use this innovative technique."