TV Commercial: Honda “Hands”
Honda: W+K’s captivating new spot puts the brand’s 65-year history in a single engineer’s hands
Source: Sam Thielman
Full disclosure: I have a collection of Transformers toys that is way too large for a sane adult man to reasonably own. And this new Honda advertisement from Wieden + Kennedy in London makes the part of me that refuses to age very, very happy.
Especially the little ASIMO robot saying “Konnichiwa!” (“Good afternoon!”) just before it runs away. Also, the notion that this guy has a little strip on both his arms that is presumably entirely free of hair from that one moment when the lawnmower escapes up one sleeve and down the other.
The spot is called “Hands,” which makes plenty of sense, and it’s also one of those great, semi-wordless pieces that plays well no matter what language you speak. Transforming motorcycles are wonderful in every country. As are transforming pieces of building hardware.
The two-minute spot celebrates the curious spirit that has made Honda the largest engine manufacturer and racing company in the world since its founding in 1948. 
And there are certainly many Honda products on display—heritage products like the 2RC143 bike; current products like the 2013 Honda TT Legends Fireblade, the HB25 leafblower, the CR-V and the Honwave T38 inflatable boat; innovative Honda technologieslike the 2015 NSX concept, the FCX Clarity car, which emits nothing but water, and of course ASIMO; as well as Honda’s first production NSX from 1990, the road sports car Honda developed in collaboration with Ayrton Senna.
Directors Smith & Foulkes also pay homage to some of the brand’s other marketing successes, notably the song “You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda” by—seriously now—The Hondells, a surf band from a bygone age, who also covered the Beach Boys’ “Little Honda.” The ad also opens and closes with a nod to W+K’s legendary “Cog” spot.
Ads like this really do point up the improvement over the years in CGI—these little cars, motorcycles and sundry other Honda inventions look photorealistic even when they’re clearly larger on the inside than the outside.
W+K says that these are “an engineer’s hands,” which would explain how he’s able to make a little piece of metal do all that. But seriously, good job, guys.
For more details, click here.
Honda “Hands”
CGI VFX Making Of HD: “Hands” for Honda by – Analog
Credits & Description:
- Advertising Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, London, UK
- Executive Creative Directors: Tony Davidson, Kim Papworth
- Creatives: Chris Lapham, Aaron McGurk
- Producer: James Guy
- Client services: Laura McGauran, Paulo Salomao
- Production Company: Nexus
- Directors: Smith & Foulkes
- Executive Creative Director: Chris O Reilly
- Producer: Tracey Cooper
- Production Assistant: Fernanda Garcia Lopez
- Director of Photography: Clive Norman
- Editorial Company: Trim Editing
- Editors: Paul Hardcastle and David Slade
- VFX Company: Nexus Productions & Analog
- Brief Explanation:
Honda “Hands” film celebrates the curiosity of Honda engineers, which has led to some of the most successful Honda innovations over the past 65 years.
The making of Honda ‘Hands’
By Ian Failes
With more than six million views on YouTube, Honda’s ‘Hands’ commercial has been watched and re-watched by everyone from racing car enthusiasts to leaf blowing gardeners. Such is the incredible scope of the extended spot, which features a set of hands folding, twisting and turning iconic Honda products from over the years.
We talk to some of the VFX minds behind the TVC – Nexus Productions technical director Dave Walker, Analog Studios director Mike Merron and Analog lead 3D artist Simon Reeves – about how they filmed with real hands, proxy models and then created the final Honda icons in digital form.
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