The Spanish TV channel Cuatro commissioned creative agency Kotoc to make a project for the design and creation of promotional pieces for the UEFA European Football Championship 2008 presently being played in Austria and Switzerland. The team created Cuatrobots which are 4 small 15 second sequences borrowing very heavily from science fiction movie blockbusters such as the Transformers and Iron Man to create a very entertaining amalgam of robots, extreme football and superheroes. The video I'm showing here merges all 4 sequences and it is kinda low res but it is still very entertaining. The second video shows the creative process in motion and it is also very good.
The making of Cuatrobots
a litle bit to much Iron Man!!
ReplyDeleteThey even steal the rock music element.
Excellent graphics and effects, I'm just hung up on the fact that they touch the ball with their hands... In football, that's a big no-no.
ReplyDeleteTrue Swen, lots of Iron Man. But I kinda like it....
ReplyDeleteKalmar you're right. I'm a big football fan (or soccer as we'd say here in the USA) unless off course that's supposed to be like Maradona's "Hand of God" or something...lol
ReplyDeleteThe player touching the ball is Iker Casillas, the Spanish goal keeper... so he's allowed to handle the ball. I wish Torres (the other player) was more expressive with his gestures though because I feel like his actions look a little stiffer than Casillas'. Great transformations and post production work with the green screen and environments though.
ReplyDeleteKenneth thanks for your insightful comments.
ReplyDeleteI like the post and the animation work that went into this, but it dilutes the values of football? This is more like Shoot 'em up ball. Football is about human beings, endurance and skill.
ReplyDeleteThis spot, though beautifully produced, lets the machines do the work, instead of the people. Also see the puma ad where all the players get turned into bionic minotaurs.
Both beautifully produced, but both kind of take the joga bonito out of the equation.
True Caram. But the jogo bonito will not be altered by something like this. This is fiction.
ReplyDeleter5True that.
ReplyDeleteBut in my eyes, it's a perception thing. I love football advertising in general (I don't like football that much), but this new trend of turning sportspeople into robots and fictional creatures is somewhat worrying.
It takes the element of human achievement out of these spots and just goes for the cool graphics thrill.
I remember spots from ten years ago because we saw people (also fictionalised) enjoying themselves while showing off some truly masterful moves, without the aid of any armour, and without the gratuitous killing of robots. The stadium spots for the world cup in 2002, the adidas cage spots, the road to lissabon ad and others simply touch me on an emotional level that this cannot begin to reach.
And I liked Iron man, so I should be thrilled to see this.
I feel you Caram. I know what you're saying. I too liked those spots from the 90's and the beginning of the 21st century where the great ones such as Ronaldo appeared in great commercials doing wonderful stuff. But I think this is just another fad. Right now, if you look around, you will see the superhero fad in films, sports, fashion. It's all over the place but it will pass like everything else.
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