Money flows across the country to the IRS.

The goal for this commercial was to create a realistic stormfront composed entirely of money that crosses America and descends upon Washington. All the ‘plate’ footage was shot without any practical money elements. Some live action money elements were shot on a stage using mix and overlay to adjust for position and motion. The bulk of the money was generated by Asylum’s CG artists using maya and houdini and rendered using renderman. Because of the unwieldly calculations necessary to light the money correctly in CG and the sheer amount of money necessary in each shot, I treated the CG elements in flame to create huge volumes of money that integrate with the scenes. Live action elements were combined with the CG elements to further enhance the realism. To create a stronger, more imposing mood, I replaced the original bright blue skies with stormier grey skies throughout. Also, having been shot in Toronto and meant to be Washington, some work was necessary to remove architecture unique to Toronto.