$100,000 Commercial Challenge in 24 Hours

Jun 8, 2024

$100,000 Commercial Challenge in 24 Hours

Goals & Rules

  • Objective: Create a $100,000 commercial in 24 hours.
  • Budget: None (cannot use any paid assets).

Rules

  1. Everything must be made from scratch. No paid assets.
  2. All modeling, animation, and rendering must be completed within 24 hours.
  3. In order to win the challenge, three top Blender YouTubers must be fooled into not recognizing your ad among others.
  4. If identified, spin the "Wheel of Pain" with punishments.

Initial Steps

  • Product Choice: Google product chosen (the easiest given the time constraints).
  • Competitors: Identified competitors with noteworthy VFX and animation skills.
  • Style: Aimed to match Google's clean, minimal aesthetic.

Research

  • Pinterest: Did not provide the desired aesthetics.
  • Instagram: Found perfect inspiration aligning with Google's style.

Storyboarding

  • Importance: Despite poor drawing skills, storyboard crucial for project outline.
  • First Shot: Modeled a simple cylinder (speaker) and materials.

Animation Challenges

  • Shot 1: Easiest - Simple speaker flipping animation with compositing.
  • Shot 2: Most complex - Required an explosion effect using rigid bodies. Encountered a significant problem with simulations but solved it by parenting pieces to one dummy object.
  • Shot 3: Simple rotations and smart rigging with speakers balancing on top of each other.

Unexpected Issues

  • Lack of sufficient shots for full ad length. Needed more animation shots quickly.

Editing & Transitions

  • CapCut: Used CapCut for transitions and edits due to its free transition library.
  • Google Style: Focused on text motion and stylized frames to mimic Google-style ads.

Music

  • Challenge: Needed fitting music but composer (Copycat) was unavailable.
  • Solution: Used Google sound bites and found suitable music last minute.

Final Test

  • Levels of Difficulty: Presented ad to three renowned Blender YouTubers.
  1. Derek Elliot: Identified the ad but suspected another first.
  2. Kaizen: Relied on audio inconsistency due to lack of Copycat's contribution, but guessed wrong.
  3. Nogi: Guessed correctly, leading to the spin of the "Wheel of Pain".

Conclusion

  • Ultimately, the challenge resulted in spinning the "Wheel of Pain," with potential for significant consequences.
  • Despite setbacks, managed to create a viable ad in 24 hours.