Chris Hopewell and Ben Foley explain how they made Acura’s latest commercial ‘Wall Art.’  Produced by Rubin Postaer & Assoc and Epoch Films, the ad shows the new Acura RDX navigating a stylised city landscape.

Using traditional stop motion and timelapse techniques, ‘Wall Art’ was shot frame by frame against painted backdrops. The duo undertook the ‘massive endeavour’ of animating the 60 x 40 foot canvases, a feat they confess was a ‘ridiculous thing to attempt, but we sort of knew we could do it’.

Each frame had to be repainted hundreds of times with the different city scenes.  During the 10-day shoot more than 450 gallons of paint and 500 cans of spray paint were used, building up to more than 400 layers of paint.  The ad shows the car ‘moving’ around a graphic city scene, which is actually animated whilst the car remains still.

Chris and Ben, who met at University, describe themselves as clever enough, or stupid enough, to attempt foolish endeavours like this’.  The 240 hours of shooting results in a rich, exciting animation and groundbreaking commercial. Watch the ‘making of’ video to see just how the spot was made.