ABC / Modern Family - Toyota

As Modern Family approached its series finale, ABC and Toyota wanted to give a nostalgic send-off and thank you to all the fans that shared the journey over 11 seasons. The original concept, which called for a live action shoot, was moving full steam ahead until the coronavirus pandemic turned the entire world upside down. Guidelines for social distancing made it impossible to pull off a shoot that could tell ABC and Toyota’s story. The spot had to be completely reimagined as an animated experience, with two weeks to go until the Modern Family finale. We were happy to help ABC and Toyota adapt their live action production into animation so they could still give Modern Family the goodbye it deserved.

Deliverables included: On-Air :30 spot. Multiple digital and social media :30. Digital key art.

With such a short deadline, three main areas of concern had to be tackled immediately: The car, the style of the spot, and managing time so that it was possible to get the animation rendered and completed by the deadline.

Making a Ride Fit for Memory Lane

Our first priority was to make sure we had an accurate 3D model of the car. The vehicle’s paint was tricky, because the color, “Moon Dust,” looked different depending on the lighting and time of day. Toyota supplied live action footage of the car to work from, but this provided another set of challenges. The running footage showed the car in a natural environment with natural reflections and light conditions. Our stylized animation environment created stylized reflections on the car, giving the vehicle a more animated feel. To counteract this, we utilized higher contrast mapping, with stronger highlights along the upper surfaces and darker undertones along the lower edges of the Highlander. This helped to create a more sculpted look to the car, minimizing the reflection layer and accentuating contrasts.

 Key Art

Custom reflections were created for the Highlander in the key art scene. ABC wanted the art to match the Season 11 finale end pages that they had designed for on-air promotion.

Color & Style

Color and style were based on the Season 11 key art that had been produced by ABC. To reflect the key art, we decided to keep the color and style as minimal as possible. The story demanded that the colors evolve over the :30 spot. The memory lane journey takes Phil past each of the three main houses from the show. ABC wanted Phil to end the spot driving off into the sunset, representing an ending and the start of new things. To help with this narrative, a time of day progression was used. Starting with the Dunphy house at around 2 pm, Mitch and Cam’s house around 4 pm, Gloria and Jay’s house around 6 pm, and the final two shots on the open road at sunset.

Recreating a Modern Neighborhood

We created the neighborhoods in 3D, using flat shading to match the minimal style of the key art. Since a scout was not an option due to timeline and travel restrictions, we relied on Google Earth to provide reference of the hero houses and the surrounding properties. This was one of many creative solutions that our team used to adapt to working on production remotely.

Character Design & Animation

Character design was also based on the Modern Family key art from ABC. We developed two sets of principle characters and a set of background characters that would help bring the scenes to life. Some of the animations help the neighborhood feel lived in, while some referred to specific Easter eggs from the series. The old lady on the scooter and the family photo sequence are specific episode references. These characters received greater detailing and attention. For contractual reasons, cast members could not be shown in animated form, so just legs were animated for the sprinkler scene.

Motion

With a script that required focus on the three hero properties, 3D camera movement around the Highlander had to be carefully considered. How to best “hero” the car at Toyota’s prefered angles and still show off the Modern Family properties was a challenge. Physical dynamics of having a car pull up and pull away from three houses and drive off into the sunset was another challenge. With a limited timeframe, the process started with a motion animatic using lower res versions of the car and nieghborhoods. Every shot was timed to a scratch track read. The project was awarded on a Friday afternoon, and by Monday morning the client was able to view a first pass rough animatic. This was helpful; in that once things were in motion, problematic areas of the script were immediately apparent. The animatic was revised daily in time for a conference call with the client. Changes discussed on that day’s call were rendering into the animatic for the next days review. Without this process, it would have been almost impossible to meet the deadline.