Working closely with iconic film director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kong: Skull Island) and L.A based agency BATTERY, alter ego’s VFX team created the perfect golf course. Jordan has a unique aesthetic and innate sensibility for what works on the screen. While on set in L.A. early post conversations were to only slightly change the landscapes, but as our team dove into the work it naturally evolved to replacing it almost entirely. It became a real collaboration between the director and VFX supervisor David Whiteson. “It was ever evolving. Creatively Jordan knows exactly what he wants and is extremely good at articulating it. I would present Jordan with a layout and he’d challenge me to push it even further. His eye for detail is insane.”

There were two equally challenging aspects to this spot. Creating the environment was the first while designing what became known as the HUD graphics was the second.
“We started sharing design ideas with the team during the pre-production phase of the project. We’d all seen a plethora of technical HUD overlays, especially in golf related ads, and RBC wanted to stand out from the crowd with something unique. The concept of overlaying something Dustin Johnson would carve out in his notebook when visualizing a hole was presented and everyone loved the concept. We focused on finding the balance between hand drawn and tech – with close to 50 iterations along the way”. – Rob Fisher, Motion Desginer.

As the project’s deadline approached we all went into Covid lockdown which added another challenge to our workflow as a team and especially in the transferring of files and preparation for grading. Test grades with Jordan begins during the VFX stage to establish a look. “The grade really separates this spot from the traditional golf world. I wanted to bring out the richness of the environment with deep colourful film tones. We intricately crafted light rays and warm flares on most shots to contrast the deep greens.” – Eric Whipp, Colourist

In the end the goal for everyone involved – director, agency, client and alter ego was to create a beautiful spot which stands out. Objective achieved.