Its time for the birds and the bees talk. Advertising style. Learn all about the creation of VWs Black Betty as it goes from an ad agency in Los Angeles, to a recreated forest using three tons of real earth, to an effects studio in London, mingling with rock stars, and back in time for the big game.
The concept behind the spot was the brainchild of Paul Oberlin and Matt Sherman. These guys were tasked with the challenge to create something that captured the aggressiveness of the 2012 VW Beetle. But there was just one problem: they couldnt reveal the actual car. Hmm Luckily Paul and Matt tackle problems like an angry linebacker. Paul Oberlin discussed the birth of the idea, During concepting we pushed off of the thought that the 2012 VW Beetle was the fastest, and toughest Beetle ever made, and eventually that just became the concept. What would the baddest Beetle on the block look like?
Enter the Black Beetle. Literally. The idea was to create a computer-generated super-insect to illustrate the cars metamorphosis from a cute-as-a-button bug to a souped-up, king-of-the-jungle, baddest bug on the block with only one speed. Fast.
From there the script fell into the lap of Production Designer Chris Glass, who began the long process of recreating a Northern California forest in an LA studio big enough to fit a small town. After the Black Beetles playground was created, it was up to the wizards at The Mill in London to create this high-performance insect. After a few trips to the natural history museum, they played around on computers that would make NASA jealous and digitally built the Black Beetle from scratch.
Once the CGI was complete, Deutsch tapped into the musical force that is the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. These guys are real rockers, working with everybody from the Beck to the Beastie Boys, and now VW. These guys took one of the greatest rock songs of all time, Black Betty, gave it enough energy and speed to match the feel of the super-fast Black Beetle and presto, one Super Bowl spot.
Watch the video to see a behind the scenes look at the process from rough idea to marker sketches to the CGI birth of the Black Beetle. Youll hear from the originators of the idea, meet the CGI puppet masters who brought the Beetle to life, and see the Black Beetles debut with a whole new understanding.
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