How do you make a car dance? Hire hit making superstar Justin Timberlake’s choreographer, Marty Kudelka, cyber scan a brand new Citroen C4 using lasers to create a perfect 3D model and spend two months using the latest film industry animation techniques as used by the likes of Pixar to create a car/transformer with all the right moves.
The resulting 30 second TV commercial was conceived by the Citroen creative team at agency Euro RSCG’s London office, produced by Spy Films in Toronto, with animation undertaken by Vancouver based post production vfx house, the Embassy.
Set to Jacques Your Body (make me sweat) by electronic dance-pop outfit, Les Rythmes Digitales, Marty Kudelka, with motion sensors placed all over his body to record every move, did 30 separate takes of the dance, one of which is faithfully reproduced by the car/transformer.
"It was certainly an unusual challenge. I tried to imagine myself as a robot with mechanical movements to capture how it would realistically move, which parts would bend and overlap, and then simply let myself go. Effectively, I became a transformer, listened to the music and let the dance flow," said Mr Kudelka.
The animation team, under director Neill Blomkamp of Spy Films, who was acknowledged at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival as best up and coming non-European director, then worked flat out to create a transformer with the moves. "Building a transformer which could believably move like a dancer was the ultimate challenge," said Blomkamp.
"The Citroen C4 is a car which really stands out from the crowd, and it demands an advertising approach which really drives this home as well as leaving the viewer in no doubt that this is the most technologically advanced car in its class. In fact you could say this car is alive with technology," said Alain Favey, Managing Director of Citroen UK Ltd.
C4 will be available in choice of 13 hatchback and nine coupe models and features advanced technologies such as digital read outs for driver information, fixed centre steering wheel with multi function controls, a lane departure warning system, a programmable speed limiter and even an on-board air freshener system enabling owners to vary the scent in the car to suit their mood.
The commercial breaks on Britain’s TV screens on November 15th, the Citroen C4’s UK on-sale date, and the multi million pound campaign runs right through to the end of December.
This is a 20-year+ news article, from our Citroen archive, which dates back to the year 2000.
If in doubt check with your local Citroen dealer as car prices and technical data will have changed since 2004.
Although our car news is published in good faith, we cannot guarantee it to be error free or complete or up-to-date.
Citroen C4 Images may not be UK specification cars. Colours and exterior and/or interior elements may differ from actual models.
The car news and images remain the copyright of the rights holder and may not be used without their consent.