Like the Mixed Martial Arts ring, the production world is an international arena. For the EA Sports MMA spot Global Ring, creative visual effects studio Dashing Collective was part of a team befitting the Rio de Janeiro-shot commercial's international scope.
Directed by HSI Productions' Jason Smith for San Francisco agency Heat, the :60 live-action spot gives gamers a gritty, front-row view for sanctioned and back-alley mixed martial arts fights in exotic locales. Dashing, founded this year by award-winning VFX supervisor Rob Moggach, has already worked with several west coast agencies and some of ad land's top directors but no job tested the nascent shop's mettle quite like this one. With an international team working in multiple global locations, the logistics from the onset were paramount.
"The scope of the job evolved throughout the project which created some unique challenges," noted Dashing EP Danielle Lyons. "But, since we're a malleable studio we were able to exceed even our own expectations."
With only a week to complete intensive, photo-realistic CG, Moggach and his team worked around the clock to seamlessly fill out and frame wide shots of the crowd, arena and ring in the spot's second half. The project's CG needs included a chain-link fence, arena and thousands of cheering digital crowd.
"Dashing's model is about giving a streamlined team of expert craftsmen the best tools available," commented Moggach. "The idea that a compact well-equipped team of real experts can accomplish as much or more than a larger less-equipped one was put to the test and proven viable."
Anchored by Founder and Creative Director Robert Moggach, Executive Producer Danielle Lyons and a select team of top digital artists and technicians, Dashing is tailor made for handling projects with demanding creative or technical challenges and adapting to service emerging complex, cross-platform creative needs.