Image Metrics Puts Extreme Face on “Rock Band 2” Commercials
"The facial animation [from Image Metrics] is truly convincing and utterly engaging. You get the sense that the vocalists in the commercials are really feeling the music..."
Image Metrics, the leading provider of facial animation solutions to the entertainment industry, has provided facial animation to Passion Pictures for two commercials promoting the Rock Band 2 video game. The project, which includes some extreme facial expressions from the animated characters, marks the second time Image Metrics and Passion Pictures have collaborated on commercials for the blockbuster video game series.
Like its prequel, Rock Band 2 was developed by Harmonix, the world’s premiere music video game company. Taking their lead from the success of the original Rock Band spot, Passion Pictures designed the commercials to look like animated music videos that portray two bands performing on various vehicles racing through a desert. Featuring the characters in Rock Band 2, the band members in the spots give high-energy performances of the original Cheap Trick and ACDC songs, “Hello There” and “Whole Lotta Rosie”, respectively. The expressive facial animation in the commercials was a key component in bringing viewers into the evolutionary Rock Band 2 story and generating consumer interest among armchair superstars who are eagerly anticipating the new songs in Rock Band 2.
In “Hello There,” Image Metrics used their proprietary technology to create about 60 seconds of complex facial animation for two characters. In the second spot, “Whole Lotta Rosie,” Image Metrics’ completed 16 shots of one character for a total of about 42 seconds of facial animation.
