VW

New Tiguan


Chocolate Tribe’s collaboration with director Karien Cherry from Giant Films, brings to life a playful dreamy world in Volkswagen’s latest ad. The VFX team was brought on to create a giant retro robot, a speeding piñata van, bouncy castles, balloon dogs and many many balloons.

To simulate the realistic dynamics for the various inflatables, Chocolate Tribe applied soft-body physics, in combination with a control rig to bring to life their whimsical, buoyant quality. The colourful piñata van was rehearsed in live-action, but the speed and fun driving style was done in full-CGI.

The retro robot was a fun technical and creative challenge. How to create a transformer-like building, which looked like a 1980s robot toy? Conveying scale and maintaining realism, whilst transforming an office block took about 2 months to visualise. One of our favourite scenes? Probably the balloon dogs. Playful and light-hearted 3D animated dogs, just made the room smile each time.

Chocolate Tribe’s team employed advanced physics simulations, detailed scene compositing, and tailored lighting to create visual consistency across CGI and real-world elements. A huge thank you to the team for this fun filled ad.

Visual Effects / Post Production: Chocolate Tribe
VFX Supervisor: Rob van den Bragt
CG Supervisor: Tiaan Franken
CEO & Legal: Nosipho Maketo – van den Bragt
Senior VFX Producer: Tracy-lee Portnoi
Matt Painting: Michael Howard
Lead Compositors: Jean du Plessis, Sven Hohmeier, Johan Wentzel, Alistair Johnson, Angelo Collinicos
Onset VFX Supervisor: Tiaan Franken
3d Artists: Tegan Theron, Taryn Jordan, Kyle Nkosana, Sam Jessica Visser, Mpho Vukea, Grant Steyn, Lloyd Bisschoff, Taija Hartwig, Rowan Ashton Christy, Lionel Glenn Ewan

Client: Volkswagen SA
Head of Marketing: Bridget Harpur
Brand Marketing Manager: Lungile Nkgadima
Brand Consultant: Thato Lekgetha

Agency: Ogilvy South Africa
Creative Director: Alex Goldberg
Art Director: Annie Bekker
Copywriter: Emma Wilson
Business Director: Julian Hendrickse
Accounts Manager: Katlego Malaka
Producer: Cathy Day

Production Company & City: Giant Films
Director: Karien Cherry
Executive Producer: Emma Lundy, Cindy Gabriel
Producer: Kim Fowler-Forbes
Production Manager: Khanyi Ngubane
Production Coordinator: Thandi Steenkamp-Persson
Director of Photography: Adam Bental
Director Assistant: Mieke Olivier
1st AD: Greg Martin
2nd AD: Siya Noah
Focus Puller: Kent Satram
Loader: Patience Mokoena
DIT: Steven Whittaker
VTO: Augusto Figueira
Production Art Director: Riccardo Pugliese
Props Master: Andre Fourie
Art Driver: Champion Shamba
Art Runner: Catherina Van Wyk
Stylist | Costume Design: Bridget Baker
Stylist | Costume Design Assistant: Sandra Sophia
MUA: Neveen Scello
Gaffer: Bernie de Wet
Unit and Locations: Michael Rinquest
Best Boy Grips: Alex Kauffenstein
Grip Assistant: Daneel Barnado, Thabelo Khololane
Best Boy Lights: Thulani Mhaga
Precision Drivers: Cleo Ligwa, Shane Williams

Editing Company: Deliverance Post
Editor: Julian Redpath
Colourist: Terry Simpson
Music track: Chris Staples “Always on My Mind”
Publishing and Master Rights: Bank Robber Music
Sound Engineer: Marc Algranti