MPC Shanghai whips up huge CG crowds for Coca-Cola’s ‘That’s Gold’ campaign

MPC Shanghai created huge, highly realistic CG crowds for the recent Coca-Cola ‘That’s Gold’ campaign, released ahead of the coming Rio Olympics. 

Working once again with agency McCann Shanghai,  MPC Shanghai were briefed with populating three arenas with thousands of animated spectators, camera flashes and waving flags.  VFX supervisor Barry Greaves explains that he and the team relished the sizeable challenge and especially the opportunity to, “create something truly memorable… A 2-minute film in the Chinese market is rare.  One combining strong narrative that holds the viewers attention throughout is almost unheard of.” 

Greaves explains the working process, “We adapted MPC's bespoke crowd tool combining plates we shot on location to the shots within the edit across multiple platforms to create a seamless story, as well as a plethora of textures, graphic elements and stills which were used to populate and create an atmospheric stadium feeling across the three different venues.”

Greaves worked closely on set with director Augusto de Fraga. De Fraga particularly appreciated the “absolute camera liberty” that MPC allowed him, explaining, “it helped me a lot in order to shoot in a very instinctive way. I was looking for believable emotions and so, when working with non-actors, camera freedom is an important tool. That made a huge difference.”

McCann Shanghai CCO & Chairman, Tomaz Mok, extols another successful collaboration with MPC Shanghai, “We are very pleased with the great, meticulous care and detail given to this film. The stadium crowds look so authentic. It looks like live footage, not CG. It is just so beautifully done.” 

Coca Cola China’s head of creative excellence, Richard Cotton, was similarly delighted, "MPC were an absolute pleasure to work with on this project. Their expertise, and above all, passion, helped deliver a film that we are delighted with."