The Team at Cairo VFX shop Monkeys turned around 100+ shots in just 12 days for this knockout spot directed by Ahmed Hussein at ASAP Productions for First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and their sponsorship of Egyptian football club Al Ahly.
Monkeys co-founder Mahmoud Ghali: “Our goal with this film was to make athletes from different sports appear to be playing their original sport but in the rules of football – using their head and legs only. We choose to make the athletes perform without balls and then create the balls in CG.
“The second challenge we had was the number of sports we had to cover and the accurate directing of non-football players to act without a ball in a way that looked physically correct and coordinated with the CG balls. We worked closely with director Ahmed Hussein through rounds of rehearsals and tests until we had a good idea of the correct timing and carefully choreographed movements.
“The fast pace and free camera moves added another layer of complexity, sometimes too fast and too close. Director of Photography Kamal Samy shot the ad using an Arri Alexa and an iPhone – accurately adding CG elements to such footage was definitely a challenge.
“The second challenge we had was the number of sports we had to cover and the accurate directing of non-football players to act without a ball in a way that looked physically correct and coordinated with the CG balls.”
“Then came the offline edit, a two-minute cut of athletes playing on empty. We had to deliver 100 finished shots in a very tight deadline of 12 working days, the team had to be seriously efficient to make it happen.
“The production process started with onset supervision with survey data handed to the team at Monkeys, who created tracking data for each shot, layout files, animation files, and lighting files.
“In terms of software, Foundry Katana and Nuke were an essential part of the process, we could efficiently handle sequences for lighting and switch between different lighting and lookdev setups so we were able to do rounds of feedback and improvements effectively on a big number of shots.
“In the end, smooth harmony and communication between the agency, the production company, the director, and the Monkeys led to a successful delivery. The sequences look visually convincing and exciting even though the moves and stunts are exaggerated, and the ad left an impression on viewers during the latest Ramadan season.”
Client: FAB
Creative Agency: KAIRO for Ideas
Production Company: ASAP Productions
Director: Ahmed Hussein
DP: Kamal Samy
VFX: Monkeys
Team: Mahmoud Ghali, Youssef Ghali, Ahmed Ghali, Ali Ghali, Nouran Farag, Ahmed Saad, Mohamed Mamdooh, Mohammed Magdy, Salah Magdy, Omar Magdy, Karim Hassanein
