What it had to solve
Launch the IONIQ 6 with a film that could hold attention like a trailer and show the car's sleek new features without a spec-sheet voiceover.
The idea
An epic space movie that shrinks: the drifting astronaut — really past the charging port and side mirror — is a lost keychain reuniting with its key.
How it works
Directed by Mackenzie Sheppard through BONAPARTE with INNOCEAN Berlin: shot as much in camera as possible, pre-visualised in Unreal Engine with a 3D model, rigged so no car element — seats, doors — had to be removed; VFX by bEpic, post by DELI, ending on the claim 'Awaken your world'.
What it did
The film launched the IONIQ 6 line in February 2023; the source records no viewership or sales figures.
Background
Hyundai's launch film for the IONIQ 6, 'The Awakening', directed by Mackenzie Sheppard, begins as an epic space movie. An astronaut drifts past what seem to be intergalactic objects — which are actually the IONIQ's charging port and digital side-view mirror. The space explorer floats through the interior of the car, revealing its sleek new feature design.
As the spot crescendos, the astronaut collides and links together with the car's key-fob. The twist: the astronaut is a lost keychain, finally reunited with its key. The exterior is then revealed with the claim 'Awaken your world'.
Sheppard's approach was to shoot as much in camera as possible, which posed real technical problems — chiefly creating a vast sense of scale inside a car whose seats and doors were not allowed to be removed for shooting. Using a 3D model of the vehicle in Unreal Engine, he pre-visualised the shots himself, an essential step in rigging the camera for the desired perspectives. The film was produced by BONAPARTE in collaboration with INNOCEAN Berlin, serviced by Twentyfour Seven in Warsaw, with VFX by bEpic and post by DELI.
Why it lands
EV launches blur together; a film that behaves like a science-fiction trailer earns attention before the badge appears.
The interior tour lets design details — charging port, digital mirror, cabin — be discovered, not listed.
The keychain twist turns a feature (the fob) into the story's emotional reunion.
Pre-vis in Unreal Engine protected the in-camera scale illusions within production constraints.
What you can take
Scale is a storytelling device: play the reveal enormous before confessing it is tiny, and the product moment — key meets fob — becomes the emotional payload.
Since then
'The Awakening' launched with the IONIQ 6 line in February 2023; the source records no commercial results.
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