GR Corolla becomes the camera in new TOYOTA GAZOO Racing brand film via HERO

Toyota’s highly anticipated release of the first-ever GR Corolla, called for an equally befitting launch film from HERO. Titled Metalmorphosis, it merges camera and car to tell the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing story through ground-breaking live action animation – no VFX, no post, no green screening.

With Calder Park Thunderdome as the backdrop, hundreds of illustrated frames over 1200m long were pasted along the barriers, tunnels and track. Car mounted cameras inside and out of the car then captured the static artwork at speed to create a number of live animations.

The individual animations and a giant custom-built Zoetrope, tell the stories of Toyota’s long-standing history in motorsport and performance vehicles, the global expansion of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, finally culminating in a sequence dedicated to the launch of the GR Corolla itself.

Says Vin Naidoo, chief marketing officer, Toyota Australia: “We wanted to demonstrate how the connection between the driver and this incredible machine transcends any other driving experience, one born out of decades of Toyota Racing both on and off the track. The film showcases the vehicle range of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, in a rewarding piece of entertainment our audience can truly feel.”

Says Shane Geffen, executive creative director, HERO: “We were never entirely convinced that we could actually pull the idea off. It was a highly technical and ambitious project and Scoundrel proved to be one of the few production companies that believed it was even possible.”

Says Toby Pike, director, Scoundrel: “It was an intricate balancing act of vehicle speed, shutter angle, frame rates, and size and distance between each illustrated frame. Having an engineer as a father has always come in handy with my physics assignments.”

The 2-minute film launches online today (8 March), with the campaign going across cinema, TV, outdoor, social, direct and in dealerships.

Client – Toyota Motor Corporation Australia
Chief Marketing Officer: Vin Naidoo
Snr Manager, Brand Communications: Andrew Wearing
Manager Communications – Passenger: Taruna Aguru
Senior Passenger Communications Coordinator: Ben Casagrande
Senior Passenger Communications Coordinator: Burhan Al-Rashid
Passenger Communications Coordinator: Grace Cheah
TOYOTA GAZOO Australian Professional Drivers: Harry & Lewis Bates

Agency: HERO
ECD: Shane Geffen
CD: Andrew Woodhead
CD: Pat Langton
Copywriter: Will Fox
Copywriter: Annie Sullivan
Broadcast Producer: Margot Ger
Head of Strategy: Tallon Mason-Kaine
Client Service Director: Richard Hayes
Group Business Director: Charlie McDevitt
Business Director: Lucy Bell
Business Manager: Johnny Lwin

Production Company: Scoundrel
Director: Toby Pike
Executive Producers: Adrian Shapiro, Kate Gooden
Producer: Alex Tizzard
DOP: Stefan Duscio

Post Production: Heckler
Editor: Andrew Holmes
Post Producer: Coralie Tapper
Colourist: Fergus Rotherham
Previs: Ed Hassan
VFX Supervisor: Tom Corbett
Online Artist: Brad Smith & Soren Dyne
Edit Assistant: Dan Page

Illustrator: James Jirat Patradoon
Animation Studio: Mighty Nice
2D Animation Director: Alex Grigg
Executive Creative Director: Darren Price
Executive Producer: Tina Braham
Producer: Diana Angelius
Head of Studio: Ben Seager
Animation: Dom Aldis, Hozen Britto, Joe Sparkes, Amy Charlick
Animation Cleanup: Wendy Lu
Composite: Gary Fouchy, Mike Lomas, Pete Nizic

Original Music & Sound Design: Squeak E Clean Studios
ECP: Karla Henwood
Original Composition: Jesse Watt
Music Producers: Richie Buxton & Oliver Duke
Head of Sound / Sound Designer & Final Mix: Paul Le Couteur
EP: Ceri Davies

Behind-the-Scenes: Scoundrel
Director: Dylan Hornsby
Editor: Adrian Katz
Photographer: Easton Chang

Media Agency: Spark