Elegance is Power: NIO EC7 Launch Film

NIO Brand & Creative Partner Agency, Interstate, approached us to produce a launch film for the All-New NIO EC7, which would be revealed on Dec.24th, 2022 at NIO Day in China. We consulted with NIO, Interstate, and Director Simon Puschmann during the storyboard and pre-production phase.  We were able to share our creative & technical expertise to create a dynamic blend of Full CGI & Live Action footage to bring their concept, Elegance is Power, to life. We were responsible for all aspects of the overall production including Live-Action Shoot Production, CGI Production, CG Vehicle Replacement, Sound Design, & Post-Production.

From the start of the project, we collaborated with our talented team of artists who are based across Europe, North America, and Mexico to help Interstate and NIO develop a creative language and design which could appeal to the vehicle’s target audience.  We developed style frames, animatics, and fed into technical approach for the CGI sequences as well as contributed to the conversations with Interstate and NIO around live action location, talent, sound design, and edit/grade.

Our shoot location needed to be a modern, international city but also needed to be ambiguous enough to not immediately lead the viewer to conclusion on which continent it was on.  We explored locations as varied as Hong Kong, Melbourne, Dubai and Miami.  We settled on Miami and dug deep into location scouting to find places we could shoot and not give away much geographical information.  Due to the need for capturing exterior footage at a specific time of day, production had to be run under strict timing and coordination.  Thankfully, the storyboards had a nice balance of interior and exterior scenes and we were able to work creatively with lighting and cameras to capture a ton of content in only 2 days of shooting.

We, of course, also had to mark up our donor BMW X5 for the vehicle replacement work with a couple hundred tracking markers.  A task that our Creative Director was very excited about doing all by himself!

full CGI environments

Finding a suitable physical location for the garage was proving difficult. Locations would pivot on their permission to shoot there. It was then necessary that we build out a CG location in order to achieve all the shots necessary. Our Creative Director pitched an idea to the agency and made a case for carrying out all the shots needed in this location. The parking garage scene, in particular, was a great collaboration across all of the Taylor James studios.  Our New York City and Mexico teams lead the design and initial scene build under the guidance of our LA Creative Director  and then handed back to the team in the U.K. to finshing texturing, lighting, and animation. Working around the timezones allowed for a constant flow of information and maximized the efficiency.

These Full CGI sequences were done in parallel with the storyboard creations, live action production planning, and model prep.  It was a truly exciting level of collaboration across all of our creative, technical, and production teams to make this project come to life within budget and time.

The passage of time was an integral part of the story. In essence the story was to begin just before sunset as the couple were getting ready, during sunset as they were driving to the venue and just after sunset as he was driving away from the event. Coupled with this, the two protagonists would be portrayed in different coloured lights. He would be cool and artificial, she would be warm and natural. We wanted this lighting tension to continue with the vehicle too. In the garage scene we have the car being bathed in warm natural light pouring through the louvres. This is also a nod to the time of day that this scene is set in. To contrast the warm, natural light, we have cool artificial light filling the rest of the garage space. In this scene we don't know who is getting to the car first and this tension is represented by the contrasting colour temperatures.

During the driving shots through the city we toyed with the setting sun. Do we keep the car in shade or have the warm light rake down the side of the car? Seeing as we are now aware that "she" had won, (meaning she got to the car first) it was clear we wanted to represent her in a warmer light. That setting sun was then positioned so that it would scrap down the side of the car. This also helped accentuate the elegant lines of the car.

We worked collaboratively with the amazingly talented artists and producers at our sister company, Tag Collective Arts, in London to handle the entire Post-Production process.  We were able to bring Director Simon Puschmann and Interstate’s creative team all into the Soho-based studio to sit in suite with our editor and colorist to dial everything in from start to finish.

We also partnered with composer Johnny Yates for the music composition and then once again worked with our sister company, Tag Collective Arts, for the final sound design and mix. 

Up against the odds with timings and budgets, we were able to work collaboratively, and creatively, with Interstate, Simon Puschmann, and all of our teams to deliver an exciting and high quality brand film for the NIO EC7.  It’s especially satisfying to complete this project with all of our friends, and work family, across the U.K., Europe, USA, and Mexico.

The quality of this project speaks for itself. But this was only possible by working with such obviously talented people. The creatives at the agency came with a great story and plenty of visual reference to give us the jump on crafting the CG elements. We were also encouraged to collaborate and offer both creative and technical solutions when shots got a little complicated. Our teams across the world also made sure that we all the tools and flexibility so that the directors could sculpt the narrative combining the live action elements with the CG elements.