Honda launched an arresting stop motion spot yesterday by Oscar-nominated director PES, who is best known for his inventive real-world object animation in films like Fresh Guacamole and Western Spaghetti.

PES has switched to paper for this spot, appropriately named “Paper,” a two-minute opus that pushes papercrafting to heights unseen since Virgil Widrich’s Fast Film and Milkyeyes’ VIDEOGIOCO. The spot tells Honda’s technological story while acknowledging the role of humble paper in Honda’s design process. “Most everything Honda does…still starts with paper — with somebody sketching out a car, with sketching out a part,” said Honda advertising exec Tom Peyton.

Honda will air the full two-minute spot on network shows such as Dancing with the Stars, Rosewood, Minority Report, and Blue Bloods, and on ESPN during Saturday College Football, according to an Adweek report. A 60-second version will air throughout October on NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC.

While everything in the film was made by hand and shot in-camera, CGI was used to previz the complex camera moves. This making-of video gives some insight into the process and offers a glimpse of the humongous set required to shoot the spot.

CREDITS
Directed by PES
Advertising Agency: RPA
Chief Creative Officer: Joe Baratelli
Executive Creative Director: Jason Sperling
Creative Director/Art Director: Ken Pappanduros
Creative Director/Copywriter: Chuck Blackwell
Art Director: Laura Crigler

Production Company: RESET
Director of Photography: Eric Adkins
Production Designer: John Joyce
Motion Control Operator: Mark Eifert
Motion Control Asst: Calvin Frederick
Animation Supervisor: Eileen Kohlhepp
Animators: Amy Adamy, Sihanouk Mariona, David Braun, Julian Petschek, Javan Ivey, Jen Prokopowicz, Brandon Lake, Ranko Tadic, Quique Rivera
Illustrators: Jerrod McIlvain, Nicole Cardiff, Vincent Lucido, Arwen King, Meghan Boehman, Monica Magana, Kei Chong, Trevor Brown, Alex Theodoropulos
Set Dresser/Painter: Veronica Hwang
Illustration Coordinator: Evan Koehne
Art Department: Nate Theis, Ellen Ridgeway, Melissa Quezada

Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors, Santa Monica
Editor: Stewart Reeves

VFX & Finishing: A52
VFX Supervisor and Lead Flame: Andy Raphael Barrios
Pre-Viz: Ranko Tadic, Ingolfur Gudmundsson
Colorist: Tommy Hooper
Online Editor: Dan Ellis

Sound Design: Factory UK
Sound Designer: Phil Bolland

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