Lexus Case Study from
 

Case Study

Lexus

URL:  http://www.lexusdarkride.com
Key Industries:
Gaming
Internet
Motor
Office & Home Computing
Publishing & Media
Key Sectors:
Design & Build
Digital Marketing
Display Advertising
Social Media
Viral Marketing
Lexus


Brief

Speedshape Europe, Skinny NYC and Stink Digital were tasked to create an interactive and engaging campaign to launch the brand new Lexus CT200h, before the car will be available in 2011. 

Strategy

To reach the target audience of young and technology savvy users, they came up with the concept of a high definition interactive film that would engage the audience and give them an up close experience of the Lexus CT200h.

Execution

NYC-based creative agency Skinny created the concept for the film and partnered with Stink Digital to help bring their idea to life- a unique film-meets-gaming experience that would combine the thrill of high-production film with the latest in interactive technology and offer users an opportunity to feel the fun-to-drive character of the CT200h.

They partnered with Speedshape Europe to create the CGI assets needed to insert seamlessly into the film/gaming experience. Speedshape completed nearly 200 shots for the project including all the exterior shots of the CT200h which were CGI, replacing a mule car that was used for the live shoot.

Most interior action sequences were shot in a studio on green screen. 6 mm wide angle interactive shots with a 210° field of view were undistorted in Nuke. 100% of the compositing and colour finishing were done at Speedshape.

All the CGI for the movie was created in a six day shoot on location in Downtown Los Angeles, and in the Californian desert, plus two in-studio days to capture the interior vehicle shots using CAD and technical data

The film can be seen at www.lexusdarkride.com and is best experienced with a Facebook account and a webcam. At the beginning of the experience, you will be prompted to take your photo, and make some general statements, which will appear later in the “trailer”. Think about what you are going to say, because you will have an opportunity to send your “personalised trailer” to friends at the end of the video.

Results

The end result was a thrilling action film that puts you, the user, in the role of ‘navigator’, helping Tony, the driver of the CT200h prototype, bring the car from the Nevada desert to a Los Angeles safehouse, protecting it from a variety of enemies that wish to get their hands on this unique fun-to-drive hybrid.

The trailer was launched on the 12th May and the full interactive film was launched on the 13th May.