Visual Effects Case Study: “You Bee Lyin’”
Digital bees cling to the face of a hapless construction worker in the “You Bee Lyin’” commercial spot. Move the slider to toggle between before and after.
Project Type
Commercial Spot
Production Company
Lemonlight
Award-winning video production agency Lemonlight tapped Foxtrot X-Ray’s team of visual effects specialists to bring to life a swarm of digital bees for “You Bee Lyin’,” a commercial spot for automotive website Edmunds. Check it out below!
Because the actor is speaking and moving his head and the bees needed to adhere precisely to his face, the first step involved building a digital mesh of the actor’s head and tracking his facial movements. From there CG Supervisor Seth Wise used the tracked head mesh as an emitter for a particle system where each particle was a fully articulated and textured bee model. A small batch of “hero bees” were then animated by hand to crawl atop the mass, and additional bees were rendered with generic hovering cycles which could be animated in the final composite by VFX Supervisor Paul DeNigris. The result is a funny and memorable spot that sells Edmunds’ biggest strength: honest reviews.
To learn more about how VFX can be used to create memorable marketing and advertising, read Foxtrot X-Ray’s whitepaper, “The Impact of CGI and VFX in Marketing and Advertising.”
Other projects featuring similar effects by Foxtrot X-Ray include The Faceless Lady, Fluorescent Beast, and Inner Demons.
To discuss how Foxtrot X-Ray can create memorable VFX for your projects, schedule a meeting with our team of professionals today.