Image Campaign: Round II
Earlier this year, we transformed the History Channel H into 5 unique muscle cars for their first ever Car Week . Shortly thereafter, History came back to us looking for more. This time, History wanted to transform their “H” into genre-specific category openers for shows like Vikings, Knightfall and more.
While not quite starting from square one, we still needed to find the perfect hero objects to bring us out of the “H” logo and into each world. We researched and pulled references of vehicles, environments & scenarios that could bring a real-life quality and context to each genre.
When conceptualizing the Knightfall animation, we wanted to build a coat of armor over the “H”, verses having the final result animate from beneath the gold. Once the “H” is prepped for battle, this outer coat then comes together to form the final piece of armor — the iconic Knights Templar Helmet.
For military, we wanted to create a M1 Abrams tank that would land with a bang. In order to give the tank the right “wear and tear” we researched and combined metal textures to create the exterior of the tank, making it feel rough and ready for combat.
For a show like Vikings, there was really no other answer outside of transforming the “H” into a viking ship. The ship, of course, also had to live on water.
We grabbed one of our best CG artists and he began to build the ocean from scratch using a C4D simulation plugin. The movement, quality and force of the ocean had to feel powerful, just as our Viking ship itself. Created entirely in Octane, we gave the stormy seas a matching sky, rendered the wood panels, water, sails and the ropes to create the most dynamic action.
In the end, our partners at History allowed us to imagine big and our artists delivered some of our favorite IDs to date. Thanks again to History for continuing the journey, and keep an eye out for more customized spots airing soon!
