Milo TVC - Prodigy

Dael Oates, rising director from Prodigy and former Animal Logic VFX designer, brings an air of sophisticated complexity to Milo B-Smart’s latest TVC, which aired on Sunday June 1st.

The spot opens with a boy arriving at school on his bike who upon removing his helmet reveals his skilfully-animated “INFRO” (“info-afro”). Focus then shifts to a classroom where we see information from the blackboard entering the boy’s INFRO; graphics, writing and diagram. The hero is then depicted in various situations where we see his INFRO change and evolve, becoming an abstract visualisation of the child’s mind at work.

The spot expertly balances live action with stylish animation, no easy challenge for any director to overcome. “There [was] a fine balance between all factors…We never like the VFX to get in the way of a good performance!” comments Oates.

This spot geniously utilises complicated design elements and unique CG animation to depict the INFROs, making them appear “alive with possibility”. Oates manages to depict them as complex and intricate, whilst simultaneously easy to ‘read’, not in a literal sense, but as an object the audience understands from the beginning.

The TVC was shot with the actors wearing skull caps created as CG graphics as hair – a complex process that required Oates to call on his extensive VFX and creative experience whilst working in collaboration with The Lab.

“As there [were] some restrictions with the VFX, I tried to minimise the complex VFX shots so that we really [made] the most of our hero boy and his infro. Less is definitely more with this one” says Oates.