NAILGUN TAKES ON TOUGH 'WEC' PROJECT
August 21, 2007

NAILGUN TAKES ON TOUGH 'WEC' PROJECT

As fighters demonstrate their mixed martial arts maneuvers, the animated tattoo graphics swirl around them and react to their punches and kicks. The video closes with a shot of one fighter's muscular back, as a tribal tattoo scrolls across it, creating the WEC logo and chain-link fence.

The tattoos were created in 3D and Nailgun mixed in some textures from a Las Vegas gym in order to add authenticity.

"Versus wanted a more multi-faceted, hardcore look," explains Erik van der Wilden, director of animation and editorial at Nailgun. "We ended up shooting nine different fighters, none of whom had been in front of the camera before. We had a great mix of people, with smaller fighters, who were into acrobatic jumps and spin kicks, along with larger guys who were all about strength and power. It was a big challenge to choreograph these guys, but we ended up with some shots that give a real sense of what the sport is all about."

Since the sport brings together many different disciplines, it was important not to emphasize any one fighting style.

Nailgun used Autodesk Maya for animation, along with Adobe's After Effects, Photoshop CS2 and Illustrator CS2, all running on Macs. Final Cut Pro was used for the edit.

Credits include creative director/live action director Michael Waldron, designer/2D animator Jong Soo Kim, designer Arava Sheleff, 2D animators Chris Harmon and Joon Suck Kim, 3D animator Song Eun Grace Hwang, and illustrator Jayson Gaylor.