Japanese ceramics company NGK Insulators decided to celebrate its centennial year by creating an epic commercial with another Japanese legend, Pokémon.
As the Pokémon characters have been a part of daily life for many people around the globe, NGK has been safeguarding the future for generations by promoting clean energy solutions.
Alt partnered with NGK and agency Dentsu to bring this selection of Pokemon characters to life. Having done a series of commercials with these characters in previous spots, this commercial gave Alt artists the chance to revive our Pikachu, as well as creating all new versions of beloved Pokemon characters Squirtle, Charmander, Bulbasaur, Snorlax, Lapras, Charizard, Mimikyu, and Magnemite.
With director Kaz Miura at the helm, this is the story of a young girl living in one of the world’s many cities. It follows her as she grows, with Pokémon by her side. In this world, the lights always shine brightly, advanced mobility coexists with beautiful skies, and information technology is constantly evolving; this world is home to people, nature and maybe even a large number of Pokémon that shy away from human eyes. Of course, all of this is supported by the diverse technologies of NGK Insulators.
As well as the multiple Pokemon characters, we also got the opportunity to create famous NGK mascot, Kurokokun. Up until now the character has always appeared as a stop motion puppet, so our challenge was to match that look and feel in CG. Starting with a 3D scan of the puppet to see all of his details and hand crafted charm, our artists then painstaking rebuilt each detail in CG down to the little fluffs of lint.
Shot by production company Stripes over the course of months in various location across Japan, including various NGK factories, the spot allowed Alt to work with established characters and all of their extensive creature skills. Additional shoot days were done in Brisbane, Australia, with local production partners, Taxi Films.
Modelling and animation was done in Maya, while lighting, FX and rendering were done in Houdini. Extensive compositing was done in Nuke, while the final colour grade was done in Resolve by our in-house colourist.
For more information on NGKxPokemon, click here – https://www.ngk-global.com/sc/en/