Car Next | Expect More

We helped Carnext blast onto the car scene for their new partnership with the youngest-ever Formula One race winner Max Verstappen.

Created by DDB Unlimited and directed by Jan Wentz through Bonkers, the visceral spot dives back into Max's past as a young boy learning to drive and follows him to the present day as he prepares for a big race.

Ambassadors Herengracht’s visual effects and grade dream team Bas Moonen and Matt Hare transformed this powerful personal story into a visual feast, that took a healthy dose of inspiration from DNEG’s Oscar-winning ‘First Man’.

Visual Effects was an important storytelling tool from starting grid to finish line, and had to blend effortlessly with analogue filmmaking techniques like stop motion, four FPS action scenes, time-lapses and super slow-motion Phantom footage. Not to mention helmet cameras, a camera strapped to a pneumatic wrench, shots through vibrating mirrors, and a shaking camera shooting through a wet greasy visor.

One of the key settings was the scene where Max takes place behind the wheel of his F1 car. “We created a digital environment of the starting grid loosely based on the Zandvoort racetrack (which at that time was very much unfinished) using a combination of projected archival footage and location photography, CG and stock elements from our library,” says Bas Moonen, VFX Supervisor, Ambassadors.

https://www.ambassadors.com/case/expect-more-car-next

Agency: DDB Unlimited
Agency Producer: Marieke Prett
Film Production Company: Bonkers
Director: Jan Wentz
Creative Production Studio: Ambassadors
Art Director: Jurriën Boogert
Producers: Jade Durbecker, Sophie van Kooten
Sound Producer: Mandy Kruisselbrink
Artist Manager: Marissa Zandvliet
Colorist: Matt Hare
VFX Supervisor: Bas Moonen
Lead VFX Artist: Bas Moonen
VFX Artists: Peter van Rij, Stephen Pepper, Melissa van het Spijker, Jeremy Verf, Hans van der Steilen
3D Supervisor: Will Jeffers
3D Artists: Sjoerd de Greef, Jonathan Krijgsman, Ralph Meijer, Ivor Ribeiro da Silva
2D Animation: Rink Hof
Sound Designers: Rens Pluijm, Joep Meijburg