Rhino CD Vico Sharabani recently collaborated with director Jason Smith of Industry on an elegant new :30 for Mazda via Doner, Detroit. Sharabani supervised the planning, shoot and post work for all VFX, with a special focus on a detailed pre-vis to streamline the spot's creation as much as possible.
The setting of What's Inside is a high-tech garage where a MAZDA3 is partially deconstructed then seamlessly reassembled into a MAZDA5. As the crew of mechanics and machines finish their job, the vehicle is boarded by a family who drives the new MAZDA5 out of frame. While the spot appears to be totally live action, it is really a seamless mix of CG and in-camera footage blended to show off both the interior and exterior of Mazda5.

"Both Doner and Jason Smith were outstanding creative partners," noted Sharabani. "They understood that making the natural flow work would require major `Frankenstein-type' surgery, and their insight and willingness to adapt were refreshing. We used multiple layers in post to fully integrate a complex composite, a process that was considerably easier than it could have been, since we took care of as many details as possible in pre-vis."

In order to exactly fulfill the director's and the agency's vision, Sharabani invested an incredible amount of time in pre-vis to determine which elements should be created with CG and which should be made with more traditional methods. The high tech garage, for example, with its stainless steel cylinders, light fixtures, shelves, and flatscreen monitors, is built of real props, while the ceiling, which retracts to allow a giant claw to descend and remove the car's entire body, is CG.