The Brief

Pebble Studios were tasked with creating a stunning 3D animation to help launch the new limited edition Land Rover Defender OCTA. Creating an arresting filmic experience, guiding the viewer through the creation of the new vehicle, our team of animators and producers working tirelessly to visualise the marriage of rugged performance and style through the creation of dynamic and reactive environments, soundwaves and detailed 3D animation to show the power of OCTA – all building in perfect sync to the growing beat of our music track.

The Solution

We worked hand in hand with the team at Imagination to help craft a story that delivered on the key proof points of the new OCTA vehicle, developing storyboards and early stage animation tests to help realise the ambition for the film. With a short production lead time it was key that all parties were aligned from the outset, allowing us to focus on R+D for more complex animations and comps.

With the new vehicle still under development (and a heavy embargo) one of our first jobs was to model the vehicle in 3D in 2 beautiful colours – Petra & Faroe. Following a trip to JLR’s ‘Q-Branch’ facility in Warwickshire to capture numerous stills and videos of the WIP vehicle we built incredible photo realistic renders of the vehicle to supply as stills as well as for integration into our animation.

We built realistic terrain environments that represented the base and mid tones of our music track, undulating and moving to the beat of the music. To give a dark and ominous tone to our landscape we used Obsidian as a material, providing a raw, yet also beautiful, feel to our world – much like the Defender OCTA. 

This organic, natural texture looks incredible in its reaction to the beat – mountain ranges transforming to mid tones as loose rock and scree vibrate to the bass.  The aim was to build out an environment that felt authentically Land Rover, but in a visual style that reflected the contemporary creative direction of the experience.

This hyper realistic environment built and adapted, along with the sound waves, to the rhythm of the music, creating further dynamism and beat integration through perfectly sync’d cinematography throughout the edit.

‍