OF MICE AND MODELS

摘要

Aseries of UK television commercials for Aero candy stars some extremely talented digital mice who sing, dance, and even hula-hoop. Despite their efforts, the mice fail to impress chocolate buyers and scurry away dejected. The ad campaign began with a 30-second commercial featuring one hula-hooping mouse, who is joined in a second spot by dozens of others, including one that sings Chinese opera and performs an elaborate, oriental-style dance. The most recent spot, which is expected to air soon, contains a group of mice performing a complicated Irish step dance. Creating these gifted photorealistic creatures and giving them naturalistic movements required a similar amount of talent and ingenuity on the part of the modelers and animators at digital effects house Glassworks and animation production company Passion Pictures, both located in London. According to Alastair Hearsum, head of 3D at Glassworks, the computer-generated mouse in the film Stuart Little set a high standard against which the audience would judge the Glassworks character. For its Aero mouse, though, Glassworks chose a different tack by dispensing with the character's clothes and opting for a more realistic approach compared to the stylized Stuart in terms of appearance and movement.