You walk in to your apartment to find your roommate making out with a walrus — what's your first thought?
You wonder if the trollop has stolen your boyfriend, that's what. Or at least that’s the story in the latest spot from Skittles Riddles, featuring visual effects from MPC, which collaborated with DDB Chicago and Moxie Pictures Director Martin Granger on the effort.
This bizarre story continues with the accused explaining that the walrus, an enormous animatronic custom-built by Moorpark, California's Animal Makers Inc., had assured her that he wasn't her roommate's boyfriend, Bobby.Rather, he was like new Skittles Riddles—different on the outside than on the inside. She demonstrates by punching in a green-tinted candy that tastes like fruit punch, before continuing her googley-eyed romp fest with the walrus.
MPC's biggest challenge was to make the animatronic walrus appear to be real, breathing life into the animal. The team created 3D eyes and eyelids for the walrus in post, while tracking and animating every move. After creating elaborate matte paintings that doubled the size of the walrus mass, MPC added flesh and fat, animated the nose, made the walrus' jaw move, added a tongue and neck fat, made his face twitch and belly quiver, time-warped his head, and added breath to the animal. Telecine was done by MPC's US Creative Director of Color Grading, Mark Gethin.