Brickyard VFX Continues "Bromance" with Sponsafier

Bi-coastal effects boutique Brickyard VFX recently completed visual effects work on Toyota Racing's NASCAR Sponsafier campaign via Saatchi & Saatchi LA. This was Brickyard's second year working on the Sponsafier campaign, which features :60 spots "Bromance," "Schoolyard," and "Housewife." The spots began airing throughout the U.S. on February 20.

The Sponsafier campaign urges NASCAR fans to design their own racecars online for the chance to meet their favorite Toyota driver and have their design showcased at the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star race in May. The three spots bring this idea to life, visualizing what would happen to three different fans if they won the contest. "Bromance" features a straight-laced office worker living out a bad-boy rock star fantasy with Kyle Busch. In "Housewife," a stay-at-home mom takes advantage of her win by kicking back and having Denny Hamlin watch the kids and do all the chores. And in "Schoolyard," a geeky boy becomes the coolest kid in school with the help of Joey Logano.

The Brickyard team completed visual effects, compositing, color correction and finishing for the campaign. Some of the more demanding effects in the campaign required turning a hamburger joint into a donut shop, adding in digital tire marks and set pieces, compositing Denny Hamlin's head onto a beefy body double and much more. All three spots were shot on location in North Carolina, where VFX Supervisor Patrick Poulatian was on set to work with director Jody Hill ("Eastbound and Down") on the VFX-heavy sequences. The Brickyard team used Autodesk's Flame and Maya for all VFX work.

"It was so much fun to work on this campaign again," said VFX Producer Diana Young. "Everyone collaborated from the start to make sure that the spots were well planned out every step of the way. The crash scene in "Bromance" was seamlessly composited thanks to careful planning during the shoot. This was so important since the actual crash plate had to be filmed in one take."

The Sponsafier campaign will air throughout the spring, culminating with the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star race on May 21.