The Toyota Corolla is one of Australia’s most popular small cars. But that was the problem, it was well-known for being small, reliable and safe. So with the launch of the new performance model and range, we not only needed to change the current mindset, but demonstrate that the connection with the GR transcends every other driving experience.

Toyota’s GR range and GAZOO Racing heritage has seen the company push the limits of performance and design across their entire suite of vehicles. Something well known to the fans and boy racers, but not the public at large.

With the imminent Australian launch of the new GR range spearheaded by the GR Corolla, we needed to create a piece of branded entertainment that would tell this story in a way that would engage more than the traditional GR audience. The objective was to reach a broader audience with the brand’s racing and performance credentials without alienating or disappointing our core GR fanbase.

The vehicle itself was our inspiration. Toyota’s first-ever GR Corolla pushes the limits of performance further than ever before. So we pushed the limits of film-making with a 2-minute content piece, titled Metalmorphosis. The film merges camera and car to tell the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing story through ground-breaking live action animation – with no VFX, no post, no green screening.

With a dilapidated Calder Park Thunderdome as the backdrop, hundreds of illustrated frames spanning over 1200m 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.

It was an intricate balancing act of vehicle speed, shutter angle, frame rates, and size and distance between each illustrated frame.

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.

“The film merges camera and car to tell the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing story through ground-breaking live-action animation – with no VFX, no post, no green screening.”

The film was launched on Toyota’s owned social channels, screened in cinema and on TV, flighted during the Formula 1 and opening games of the AFL season. It was also shared among tens of thousands of fans through the Gazoo Racing database and through the social channels of two of Australia’s premier racing drivers, Harry and Lewis Bates, who also piloted the vehicles in the film.

All 750 units of the GR Corolla have been sold or reserved.