GR Corolla Becomes the Camera in Toyota Gazoo Racing Brand Film from Toyota & HERO

Toyota’s highly anticipated release of the first-ever GR Corolla, called for an equally befitting launch film from HERO. Titled Metalmorphosis, it merges camera and car to tell the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing story through ground-breaking live action animation - no VFX, no post, no green screening. 

With Calder Park Thunderdome as the backdrop, hundreds of illustrated frames over 1200m long were pasted along the barriers, tunnels and track. Car mounted cameras inside and out of the car then captured the static artwork at speed to create a number of live animations. 

The individual animations and a giant custom-built Zoetrope, tell the stories of Toyota’s long-standing history in motorsport and performance vehicles, the global expansion of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, finally culminating in a sequence dedicated to the launch of the GR Corolla itself. 

Vin Naidoo, Chief Marketing Officer Toyota Australia said “We wanted to demonstrate how the connection between the driver and this incredible machine transcends any other driving experience, one born out of decades of Toyota Racing both on and off the track. The film showcases the vehicle range of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, in a rewarding piece of entertainment our audience can truly feel.” 

Says Shane Geffen, Executive Creative Director HERO: “We were never entirely convinced that we could actually pull the idea off. It was a highly technical and ambitious project and Scoundrel proved to be one of the few production companies that believed it was even possible.” 

Scoundrel Director Toby Pike added, “It was an intricate balancing act of vehicle speed, shutter angle, frame rates, and size and distance between each illustrated frame. Having an engineer as a father has always come in handy with my physics assignments." 

The 2-minute film launches online today (8 March), with the campaign going across cinema, TV, outdoor, social, direct and in dealerships.