Assos - Unnatural By Nature

3d animation ADRENALINE SPORTS after effects assos CGI mountain biking Social media post Video Editing Nature simulation

UNNATURAL BY NATURE

In a continuation of our creative relationship with the brand, Assos of Switzerland presented Bolder with the challenge of creating a powerful and dynamic film for their range of mountain biking apparel.

With a campaign title of ‘Unnatural By Nature’ - the sequence needed to hit the surreal and quirky tones of our previous Assos films, blending powerful live action, elegantly crafted CGI in the beautiful, natural setting of a rugged mountain bike trail. The fast, immersive sequence aims to put you close to the action, where you experience the flow and aggression of the ride. With rapid and fleeting glimpses through the forest to capture the intensity in every moment and 3D that communicates the advanced characteristics of the product with stylistic abstraction.

Audio was captured in real time while shooting - at ground level, on board with the rider and ambient atmospherics. This allowed for a visceral sound-scape to be built which was then layered with a driving, repetitive rhythm based sound track, taking inspiration from the powerful cycling mechanics.

Split into 3 key sections:

Movement. Comfort. Protection.

Varying pace and terrain of the live action edit is enhanced with CGI scenes, invoking the essence of the garments and referencing naturalistic details of the woodland environment its self.

The use of long lenses, tracking the rider’s action through the trees compresses the scenes, intensifying every interaction of rider, bike and the terrain. While energetic hand held camera work generated a fast, ‘searching’ aesthetic to shots. Inter-cut with the deployment of an all terrain RC car, equipped with a gyro-stabilised rig (Over Shot G1 system) with wireless control for our DoP, allowed tracking shots with smooth control that kept up with the motion at close quarters through the forest environment.

Lightweight LED lighting rigs, that could be set-up throughout the forest allowed flexibility in lenses, exposure and speeds to capture details where required or produce background/foreground shifts in beautiful motion blur for emphasis of speed and direction change.

Additional close up action shots were designed to capture details in shallow depth using bike mounted rigs, producing a synergy with the CGI scenes, that take direction from the live action shots, emulating the forest atmosphere with macro details of fantastical simulations and texturing.

Audio was captured in real time while shooting - at ground level, on board with the rider and ambient atmospherics. This allowed for a visceral sound-scape to be built which was then layered with a driving, repetitive rhythm based sound track, taking inspiration from the powerful cycling mechanics.

During location scouting trips, extensive environmental reference images were captured that lead on to inform and inspire the animated CGI scenes. Details, structure, texture, interaction of light and the subtle beauty of natural forms from the specific location added a depth and authenticity to research that could then be abstracted, brought to life and used to demonstrate the qualities of the products.

Locations were scouted and assessed on composition, texture, the technical riding achievable, shooting practicalities and the representation of terrain throughout the films narrative and visual flow.