Nike Hyperdunks:Commercial mmercia omDigital Digital Domain- Clean Up & Compositing

In the begining of June, Mark was once again approached by Digital Domain executive producer, Michael Crapser for a seamingly impossible job. "We've had 7 artists working 5 weeks now, and still do not have anything we can show the client"

Mark explained"This is a win win situation for me""If I totally crash and burn on this project it means I am as good as 7 of the world's top compositors. However, if I manage to pull this off..."

Presented with this challenge, Mark was determined to find a solution.

THE CONCEPT: Kobe Bryant is playing the children’s game "Cats in the Cradle". At the end of the spot Kobe magically forms the strings into the exact same pattern featured on the sides of his new "Hyperdunks" sneakers.

THE PROBLEM: The director chose to shoot Kobe playing with elastic cord rather than actual string. The initial plan was to supplement the cords with 3D cords only at the end of the spot to make the pattern. Even though the elastic cords where easier to see, Nike felt elastic cords where too thick and too rubbery.

Therefore, it was determined that the strings had to be painted out of the entire spot and completely replaced with 3D strings. Complicating the problem was the fact that Kobe’s hands where constantly in front of the camera so anything less than a perfect paint would result in popping which would be extremely visible.

Initially the spot was created to be viewed only the internet at Nike.com. This allowed for many small imperfections to be unseen by the viewers eye. But when Nike decided to air the spot in HD during the Olympics Opening Ceremonies, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Mark determined that the previous seven artists failed because they relied on technology to fix the problems for them. Every spark, process or special technique failed to result in perfection.

Mark decided that the only full proof meathod would be to put on his ipod, get comfortable and just begin to paint each frame, as perfectly as possible, frame by frame by hand. "We just have to put in the hours and do it right until it's done. Whatever that takes" Mark then took certain clean frames and tracked them by hand over particuarly bad patches. This technique of painting and patching eventually resulted in an perfect clean plate.

The next challenge came when the 3D element came in. All of the strings which would need to move through various spatial planes were actually rendered all in only one layer. In addition the 3D was not even close to matching the geometry of the hand. Mark had to go in and break out each string seprately into different layers, paint out strings that did not match and paint new strings in to make the 3D strings interact perfectly with Kobe's hands.

Final frame count: 769

Total hours in flame: 186

Total cigarettes Mark smoked to relieve stress: 83

Results: PRICELESS