Over that, in addition to another feature, I worked on at least a dozen shots of the island and the house, some involving complex camera tracks and dollies. Two of the more involved shots involved a track along the entire beach with 270 degree camera pan and the establishing shot of the island.

It was a tremendous privilege to work on this project with the team at Kojo.

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Over the past few years I had the pleasure to work with the amazing team at P&P Projects on the design and visual-storytelling for Grupo Vidanta’s impressive and cutting-edge Luxury theme park resort development in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico.  I contributed with hundreds of concepts and visualisations for numerous key experiences across the Park, of which I’m permitted to share just a selected handful of designs here (Look for the BON logo).

From the press release:

Partnering with P&P Projects, VidantaWorld’s BON Luxury Theme Park has redefined the art of storytelling through masterfully crafted theming and design. P&P Projects worked in close collaboration with Grupo Vidanta’s in-house design, architecture, and construction teams to create original intellectual property and design captivating ride vehicles and cohesive environments, ensuring that each attraction delivers a fully immersive experience. From the epic Tecuani Beast to the family-friendly Izari’s Flight, every detail—from vehicle shapes to the surrounding landscapes—has been meticulously designed to transport guests into the fantastical world of VidantaWorld’s BON Luxury Theme Park. By combining visionary creativity with unparalleled craftsmanship, P&P Projects has helped make VidantaWorld’s BON Luxury Theme Park a destination where storytelling and adventure seamlessly intertwine.

To get a sense of the immense and breathtaking scale of this project, check out this video introduction.

The concept was premised on a slick car commercial with a telegenic young couple and sweeping vistas that suddenly goes horribly wrong.

Despite the tight turnaround of 3 days, this was a great job to work on and a privilege to work with Adam, Greg and Marty at Accordion.

In 2022 I had the enormous privilege of being invited to contribute to the design of the main-stage and a number of sponsor’s stands by the team at Leisure Expert Group, Netherlands, on behalf of the event organisers, Insomniac, Los Angeles. Unfortunately, I’m not permitted to publicly share my designs but from the dozens of initial explorations of the stage design that I undertook, the final design of the stage inflatables does significantly draw upon my later contributions, notably the ‘art deco’ video screen towers, the design of the rays and how they intersect those towers, and the vines wrapping around the tower bases and defining the central stage.

A number of my proposals also included the projection of vines and greenery, which was carried over into the final effects line-up. It was an amazing project to work on and I feel privileged to have contributed to it and to have worked with the immensely talented team at LEG.

The press announcement follows:

‘Thrillseekers will soon speed along at more than 100km an hour and face the kind of G-forces F1 racers endure as Victoria’s biggest theme park gets even bigger.

A pair of new roller-coasters will push Gumbuya World into the territory of Dreamworld and Movie World on the Gold Coast, with one of the fastest rides in the nation.

And after last month splashing $2.6m on a 44.5ha rose farm next door to the attraction southeast of Melbourne, the operators’ total landholdings have reached an enormous 287ha — believed to be the biggest landmass owned by a theme park in the nation.

The Australian Amusement Leisure and Recreation Association (AALARA) this week confirmed the Gold Coast’s biggest attraction, Dreamworld, only covers about 54ha, less than a fifth of the 287ha Gumbuya World now owns in Tynong North.

They also confirmed the faster of the two new roller-coasters would be among the speediest roller-coasters in the nation at 105km/h — though still outpaced by Movie World’s 115km/h DC Hypercoaster.

Gumbuya World chief executive Ron Weinzierl said the new coasters, worth a combined $40m, were just weeks away from opening.

Mr Weinzierl said the new rides would bring their total to 13, in addition to a zoo and other nature experiences that were part of a broader plan to lure tourists to Victoria that would ramp up as the 2032 Brisbane Olympics approach.

They include a 46m-high Project Zero, which will have riders pulling up to 5gs, and a more family-friendly attraction named TNT that will hit speeds up to 67km an hour along its 453m length.

“These coasters makes us the leader in the theme park industry here in Victoria,” Mr Weinzierl said.

“And on land size we are the biggest theme park in Victoria, if not Australia.

“We are now competing up against those leading theme parks on the Gold Coast.”

LJ Hooker Pakenham’s Sam Paynter brokered the latest acquisition and said Gumbuya was also now competing with the biggest dairy farms in the region, and that any expansion to the theme park was a “massive boost for the area”.

“They’d be up there as one of the biggest landholders in the area, without a shadow of a doubt,” he said.

Mr Weinzierl said the eco-friendly theme park, which is involved in a number of conservation projects including efforts to re-establish the critically endangered mountain pygmy possum, was considering renewing some of the latest acquisition to suit native wildlife once the rose farm currently operating at it reaches the end of its lease in seven years.

“It’s an opportunity to make sure that nature and the fauna on the site stays the way it should,” he said.

“We now have 660 acres (287ha) to be developed alongside the community in as far as what we do and what we put here.”

Gumbuya World’s wildlife attractions are expected to get a lift in the near future, having recently added a tree kangaroo from Taronga Zoo, they’re now investigating bringing in meerkats and monkeys.

The park had its busiest ever February earlier this year, but new rides are expected to bring in the biggest crowds yet with up to 5000 people on peak days over summer and total visitors as high as 500,000 a year.

“I figure it will be our hottest summer yet,” Mr Weinzierl said.

Gumbuya World replaced Gumbuya Park in 2018 and with the completion of its new roller-coasters will conclude the third stage of a five-phase masterplan to overhaul it.

Phase four is expected to deliver accommodation, most likely eco-friendly spaces.

“The goal is that people will come down, spend a day at Gumbuya and then the next day go to a winery or Phillip Island,” he said.

Mr Weinzierl added the attraction was already expecting a “bonanza” when Brisbane hosts the Olympics, and Gumbuya World would be among the attractions working to lure international crowds to Victoria.

An AALARA spokesperson said the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane presented “amazing opportunities” for the wider theme park industry and that they were working with the federal government towards a “bright and exciting journey” to the international event.

 Link to article (Paywall)

The commercial was one of a series promoting new low-price plans, and I was tasked with creating new windows and a wintry, typically Norwegian suburban scene outside. Layers were maintained for grading and the inclusion of animated snow in comp.

The first of the three images is an original plate with the actor in-situ. The second is the matte that I completed, and the third is a still from the final production.

Original shot:

Matte:

Final Comp (still from TVC):

Preliminary sketches and materplans for the redevelopment were supplied by the owner and Creative Leader of Basemint Creative, Josh Adcock. Josh and I collaborated closely to realise his vision despite the considerable time difference and super-tight deadline.

A fun project where I had an opportunity to flex my archvis muscles somewhat.

Late in the afternoon I received a call from Rob of Airbag to perform some emergency surgery to a sausage, which was to feature in a TVC for AAMI Insurance.

The client had expressed concern that the item central to to the joke – a certain charred sausage – was, shall we say, a tad too phallic.  My task was to create a new charred sausage that had a pointier and less obviously phallic form. Job was received circa 2pm on a Friday and completed with rounds of feedback before 5.

Nice and easy, and Airbag’s client was extremely happy with the result.

Before (look away know if you’re offended by the shape of a sausage):

And after:

And here is the final TVC in all its glory:

Drone footage of a paper mill was used to create the base image for the matte. The perspective and horizon wer adjusted to match the foreground plate (featuring a CG elk and Norris on a rocky outcrop) and the matte was extended on the left to provide a 21:9 aspect ratio with room to spare. Lighting was tweaked so that the mill was backlit, hills and atmosphere were added as well as a new sky, with everything graded to match it.

The elk and ‘Chuck’ featured here merely are a slap-comp to determine the composition of the matte relative to the foreground action.

Here is the entire commercial.

The matte features at 0:48 seconds however it’s worthwhile watching the entire commercial.

Enjoy!

I also manually created a depth mask to provide greater control over the layers to the compositor.

Two of the three TVC’s featuring the matte have so far been released. Blink and you’ll miss it!