3D™ Car Mat Image Film Behind the Scenes

When designing commercial films, DC first considers the film’s “value” and if what the audience sees is on point, so the film can also be used effectively for marketing later on. So when clients mention numerous ideas they want to present in a film, we will start by analyzing each need and determine whether they correspond with the purpose of the film, and we begin constructing the film after this process.

The framework helps the film

For this project for 3D ™, a car company that makes car mat accessories, the client had a lot of content to include. The needs we determined were image, product introduction, and instructions. Furthermore, the image film had many purposes, such as conveying the high-quality of the product, showing off car protection features, designer drawings, engineer scanning modeling, and even the factory’s CNC lathe, etc. We are able to do our best and resolve even the toughest problems when customers can convey their needs and have a clear picture of what they want. Otherwise, if even the customer is uncertain, we may encounter many difficulties during production. Therefore, helping our client pinpoint its needs is an important task when managing a project!

How the scene was designed

Speaking of the shooting, the client has many types of products and each type of car will have a different type, so in the design, we lay out all the mats in the all white studio to create an impactful image. Then we allowed the designer to walk among them and strictly examine the mats to show how each product is custom and carefully made. The large and spacious packed white room was the focus this time. In order to create the image of mats covering the ground, whether the lines and arrangement was accurate and if all the mats were all in the shot was crucial. So the director’s ability to command was very important in the studio. It required the cooperation of all the staff to complete this difficult task.

An advantage of the white studio was that it can highlight the products. The only problem is that the products filmed this time, also included cars. So when the cars entered the white studio, the tire tracks that appeared were difficult to deal with. There were other shots that would need to film the ground after, and the owner of the white studio might not appreciate the mess. In the same studio, we tried used big cardboard boxes or tarp on the ground, and when the car was driven into the studio, we would try to adjust the angles of the boxes. However, this did not allow the car to move freely to the angles the photographer wanted, and each move may require a lot of work (we also needed to watch out for the safety of our staff). So this time shooting, we decided to wrap the tires with transparent film which saved us a lot of time…this is the story behind the image where everyone is squatting on the ground and wrapping the tires!

In addition, we filmed the actual production process in the factory so the filming crew could film the short process of the materials being removed from the heating box and placed into the mold. Of course, the decisions made while shooting need to be immediate, because the client’s factory was in southern Taiwan, the time we had for surveying the site and the number of staff that could go was limited. We needed to bring all the necessary equipment to this faraway factory, so if there were any problems, the crew would have to quickly find ways to solve them.

The impact of lighting design

on the images

When communicating with our client in the beginning, the client hoped to show the products in a high quality way. We are very skilled at this, so with the HMI lighting and a good camera, we were able to capture the droplets of splashing water and the fine details of the products. In addition, for DC, even though we have shot similar images, but with this new project, we still wanted to make some changes. The small changes can result in a totally different visual experience for viewers. In this project, for the landscape we used light projections and changing light beams to change the colors of the background into a gradient of white and gray. The entire image was not in bright white and the lights and shadows would change with the product close ups.

In simpler terms, we had a lot of creative room in this product image project. The client also had high expectations for the images, so it was a rare chance for us to discuss ways to make the images better with our client. This was a very enjoyable cooperation!