Volkswagen’s ‘Born Confident’ campaign introduces Bam, a bold CG ram, to the world to wreak havoc around his new home. The young Buck is born with thick black fur and the horns of a fully-grown Ram. From day one the Ram exudes confidence, leading the flock, scaring the farmer’s sheepdog and even squaring up to a bull. But when the Ram encounters the new Volkswagen T-Roc, he’s finally met his match.

The team needed to create a baby ram with life-like proportions, staying true to physical anatomy - whilst enhancing his confidence. Using innovative in-house software developed for photo-real creature work, the artists mastered the tricky balance of crafting a photo-real character, without slipping into cartoon-like animation. For realism, animation subtlety was key. The emotion and storytelling comes from our little hero’s elegant and confident posing, with no need for oversized muscles. Push the ‘acting’ too hard, and believability is lost.