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Director Kobayashi
koba-yashi.co.uk

My inspiration was to clash a popular russian symbol with Milan's famous locations.
I did a manga restyling to the classic matrioskas' look to make them original and cool.
All the dolls and the bottle are in 3D CGI, composited over real footage.

I've personally took care about all the production phases, thanks to my 360° skills.
From creativity to shooting, from 3D animation to editing and compositing.

CREDIT LIST:

Client: Smirnoff Black (SPEC)
Director: Kobayashi
Creative Director: Kobayashi
DOP, camera operator: Kobayashi
Editing: Kobayashi
3D modeling, animation and rendering: Kobayashi
2D compositing, grading: Kobayashi
Soundtrack: Paper Planes (M.I.A.)

Camera: Canon HV20... No budget to rent a RED :-)

NOTES:

I'm actually looking for real commissions!
Please don't hesitate to contact me or one of my representatives for any kind of work enquiries.
Feel free to publish this video and the press release content on your blog or magazine.

97 Likes

  • Liam Underwood 1 year ago
    that was excellent! how long did this one take you?

    I Really need to get learning this stuff!
    do you have any links to a good Nuke 5, Houdini and Maya Tutorials or communities?

    thanks mate!

    Very well done!
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you Liam!
    It took me around 6 weeks from concept to final result.
    But around 10 years to learn how to do it by myself :-)

    My preferred community is Highend3d.com
    You can also look for Gnomon school DVDs on various softwares and techniques, they are really great!

    Keep in touch,
    Kobayashi
  • MAN of HANK plus 1 year ago
    The place I recommend for learning Maya and related software such as Shake and AfterEffects is 3D3world.com They do inexpensive one to one training. I run the school from a castle in Tuscany so I am somewhat biased in my opinion.
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  • MAN of HANK plus 1 year ago
    I particularly liked the 'lighting integration'. That said Russian Dolls have a particular set of associations (one inside the other etc.) that seemed to conflict with the presentation of this idea. I would have made a stronger association between the vodka bottle and the dolls (bottles inside of bottles for example.) Then I think the idea would have worked better.
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Hi Man of Hank, thank you for your feedback and suggestions... In fact I tried to stay away from this kind of cliche. I wanted to make funky Matrioskas, not classic ones ;-)
  • MAN of HANK plus 1 year ago
    Ah ha! If you want to stay away from cliché then stay away from the dolls....
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  • DDLM's plus 1 year ago
    moda sullarante!!!!
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    WOW! What does sullerante means? I'm curious...
  • DDLM's plus 1 year ago
    well, i really couldn't tell you because i've just made it up....
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  • Maya Lior 1 year ago
    This is great! I like the bottle effect and the transitions. I also love the fact that you kept the Babushka inside the bottle. The Idea is wonderful.

    Russia's mothers Milk!!! ;-)
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thanks Maya!!!
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  • Daniel Zagórski 1 year ago
    ....no drink.......no drugs..........no Russia....... :)).......no English........!!!
    ....good details.........good lights......!!!
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thanks Daniel, you got the... spirit of it! ;-)
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  • *misslieze 1 year ago
    I'm so jealous! How'd you do that? Was the bottle 3D or 2D?
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    lol! I created a 3D bottle and rendered it in 6 different ways to have enough footage for the entire video.
    Some render took even 18 minutes per frame!!!
    It's made in Maya, rendered with Mental ray.

    The most difficult part was to create the light system... it's similar to a real pack shot in a black limbo.

    I will soon post a behind the scene video.
    Stay tuned!
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  • Bertrand Bouchez 1 year ago
    10 years to learn how to do that alone... mmm, if I start today, I will be ok in 2018 !
    Ok i have to work, see you in ten years.

    Bye
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Well maybe if you start now you will learn faster than me. When I started it took even 6 hours on my Commodore Amiga to render a chrome sphere... even a 400$ PC is 1000 times faster than that now!
    You need to do a lot of experimentation and this really helps.
    Now you can also find many tutorials for free on the web or go to a CG course.
    Good luck ;-)
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  • kitschpatrol plus 1 year ago
    Nice, one-man machine.
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thanks Kitschpatrol! I like team work, but for these tests I have to do all by myself... BTW if anyone is interested I'm going to start soon a new one...
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  • godino 1 year ago
    Excellent animations!
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  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you Godino... I tried to do my best ;-)
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  • Aleksey Zhilyaev 1 year ago
    It's good! But, "matryoshka" shouldn't be mat, it should be glance))
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thanks Aleksey!! I know real ones are really shiny... but these are seen trough a Smirnoff bottle, so they get "filtered" by it :-)
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  • mr. Mike 1 year ago
    well even though my comment is here way down on the page I would like to say BRAVO!... excellent skills my friend... I hope drinking Smirnoff does not make me see dolls walking in the street but hay damn good my friend ... damn good! I needed a colorful metaphor to send my point home hope you don’t mind!

    Your friend from VAS Mr. Mike
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you so much Mike!!! PS: Drink responsibly if you don't want to have hallucinations ;-)
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  • BK Garceau, III 1 year ago
    Nice looking composites and renders, really cool stuff! Love the bottle; both creative use and visuals
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  • Gustavfriends plus 1 year ago
    Wow, it is a really good work you did here, really smooth.
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  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you BK and gustavfriends!!! All your feedbacks are really appreciated!!!
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  • Onur Senturk 1 year ago
    looks very good man:)waiting for behind the scenes footage.I am really wondering breakdowns.
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you my friend!!! I will keep you posted...
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  • Alex Itin plus 1 year ago
    I already loved the music
    love it now more.

    grazzi
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    M.i.a. rocks!!!!
  • kate 1 year ago
    so do U!
    fantabulous.
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    :-o
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  • 123nak 1 year ago
    Wow! I really like it!

    Also the great MIA paper planes track!

    nice ^^ I'm interested in this kind of VFX but I have to learn a little bit about 3d modeling & animation, the integration isn't a problem, afterall I work in a VFX department here in Barcelona making some commercials & much more.

    Keep in touch! I really enjoy my work, prolly you too.

    Regards
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thanks for your feedback mate! As you say, I love my work and all I did and learnt until now it's because of my passion... If you are willing to you can always learn new stuff!!! I hope to see some 3D test from you soon ;-)
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  • Alessio Cagnano 1 year ago
    Like I've said on LinkeIn...fantastic!
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you Alessio!!!
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  • Sasha Chero 1 year ago
    Respect, man. Hope Smirnoff will appreciate your work and you will always have vodka for free.)
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    This would be great :-) Thanks Sasha!!!
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  • Berry Boetekees 1 year ago
    Wow it looks really nice mate!
    It's just that sometimes you see movies and you think... Yeah, this guy is getting somewhere! We will be hearing from you a lot more i guess :)
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    eheh, thank you so much Berry! I hope I would have a possibility to show off my skills on a real commercial ;-)
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  • carles pamies 1 year ago
    Lovely. Congratulations for this beautiful work. I love the idea of mixing architecture and .... (fill with whatever you like, dolls or gargoyles)... I will keep an eye on your work!
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you Carles! Have a look at my Sony Bravia test...
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  • MrModehead 1 year ago
    Slick.
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    ;-)
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  • Frederic Vercammen plus 1 year ago
    Very nice commercial!
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you so much Frederic!
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  • Paul Tarlevs 1 year ago
    Wow! Just wow. Was a 35mm adapter used? If so, what kind? Also, what did you colour grade with?
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you Paul! I didn't use a 35mm adapter, is a standard Canon HV20.
    I've done some defocusing work in post, also replaced most of the skies.
    The grading was done in Shake.
    I will soon post a "making of" video... stay tuned!
  • Paul Tarlevs 1 year ago
    Can't wait!
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  • Hugo Bernatas 1 year ago
    good good ! :D
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you MSK!! ;-)
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  • Steele O'Neal plus 1 year ago
    keep up the good work, love it.
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    I will do my best Steele! Thank you!!!
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  • [ indelible inc ] 1 year ago
    no need for a red when you've got chops this good, bud. that's what the HV30's there for. shows you off without breaking the bank. we get the point!!!!!!!!!!
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thanks for your feedback mate! Actually I'm willing to buy a Canon Eos 5D Mark II now... it costs like a couple of HV30 but I think it's going to be amazing ;-)
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  • Amenon plus 1 year ago
    Sigh... HV20.... HV30.. I feel a bit like Toad, dazed and going "poop-poop" when I hear those codes.

    Great stuff - enjoyed that a lot - it actually made Milan look like a Nice Place... ;-) If I were an advertising exec I'd hire you. But I'm not. Ho-hum...
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    :-)

    Thank you so much for your feedbacks!!!
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  • Sugoi 1 year ago
    Awesome job !!!
    Makes me want to go out and buy some Smirnoff :)
  • Director Kobayashi plus 1 year ago
    Thank you Sugoi!!!
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  • Steele O'Neal plus 1 year ago
    nice work dude, like the making of it too....
  • Director Kobayashi plus 11 months ago
    Thank you for your feedback Steele!
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  • Paul Tarlevs 11 months ago
    Hey what program did you use for the bottle and everything else? After Effects?
  • Director Kobayashi plus 11 months ago
    Bottle and matrioskas were done in Maya as usual... 2D comp made in Shake.
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  • Alex Lora - filmmaker plus 10 months ago
    Amazing mate!
  • Director Kobayashi plus 10 months ago
    Thanks!!!
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  • Matthew Gorveatte 9 months ago
    kobayahsi; I am also tring to make my self a 360 worker. I am just learning the 3d side of things now and I am glad you posted your fav sites to learn I will be sitting in my room waiting for all the snow to melt and learning as much as I can before. The riding season starts for me; I mean mountain biking. I am going to try and combine 3d with riding. I belive this is the way of the future and there is no ignoring it. I need to learn everything to be even looked at by any company. If I want to have ppl I will call bosses one day. lol I downloaded maya and am now just making a alien face and trying to make it move but I guess I have to give it bones. I will keep you posted and I would love to see that behind the scenes. You are keeping me on track and I am using you as a bench mark right now. thx great name by the way mine is so dull

    matt
  • Director Kobayashi plus 9 months ago
    Hi Matthew, keep on with your good work and never loose self-confidence or passion for what you do.
    It's hard to learn 3D, takes a long time also... but I will wait to see your first test mixing it with riding :-) Get some tutorial to learn Maya, it takes time to do them but it's faster than learning by yourself (at least now). Look for tutorials on very specific task that you want to understand (animation, dynamics, modeling, etc...). All the Bests, Kobayashi
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  • Daniel Familia 9 months ago
    Whats the name of the background song? I have been looking for this song for ever!

    Thanks in advance!
  • Daniel Familia 9 months ago
    Never mind i got it!
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  • Emily Hayes 9 months ago
    Very unique and honest way of promote the product. What really sell in this world is our honesty. May get some of the reaction but what will not get good or bad reaction through our sharing?
    This is fantastic honest and most humble ways to share the truth to promoth the product. I love it. It is wonderful sharing through your unique concept of your unique being. Even your deal was turned down, your creativity is not turned down and I can see so many friend's in this world can rely to your honesty. Hard work, great truth. What more can we ever ask then this in this world?
    Much, much better then make believe. It is refreshing and promotor should put in to consideration and prote honest way of promoting.
    Thank you once again and again my dear friend Kobayashi for your geart sharing. Inspiring!!!
    Have a great inspirational day.

    Yours truely emily eunjue hayes
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