You've never seen a McDonald's ad like this

McDonald's has produced many diverse campaigns over the years, but they usually revolve around the familiar subjects of children and families. Now though, the fast-food giant is attempting to appeal to a different demographic, with this gritty, cinematic commercial that looks more like a hardcore hip-hop video than a restaurant ad.

Renowned director Joe Pytka teamed up with The Colonie editor, Bob Ackerman to produce the 60 second commercial for Burrell Communications, entitled, 'Good Things' which tells the story of a group of African-American teenagers hanging out on dark inner city streets, cut to Marvin Gaye’s mournful song, 'Inner City Blues'.

It may not look CG heavy, but The Colonie's VFX department were called upon to created a number of visual elements for the ad. There were no intermediary shots of the final mural as it was being painted, so the team led by Tom Dernulc supplemented the footage, 'filling in' the art work on a couple of shots, and recreating the skyline, so the mural could be shown in various stages of completion to create a more impactful final reveal.

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