The Light’s Been On For 50 Years!

For 50 years Motel 6 has been known for leaving the light on for travelers all over America. How did we plan on celebrating that stellar reputation of reliability and quality? By tapping into the audience’s nostalgia for those five decades and associating that innate fondness with the brand on a good ole fashion road trip.

Invisible Transitions in Plain Site.

We shot all cars practically and also built them from scratch in CG to allow for transitions to happen seamlessly right in front of our eyes. Decades morph into each other using different car models, wardrobe, hair & makeup, props, and even period-correct color grading. K+C directed this spot to emphasize the details in-camera while using those same details to hide our transitions in post.

Watch the Behind the Scenes.

Designing the transitions and transformations to correctly match the tone and mood required a deft blend of CG work and camera trickery. There was not just one method of moving between decades; we used a variety. Some are incredibly subtle, almost hidden by wipes, pans, edits, or lighting. Others are bold and obvious, where we will actually see things transform. Check out how we did it in this nifty BTS video.